Galway county has some of the highest numbers of ‘ghost estates’ in the State according to a new survey which examines the post-Tiger phenomenon of empty and abandoned developments.
The survey was carried out by the National Institute of Regional an Spatial Analysis. Of the 600 ‘ghost estates’ in the Republic, a total of 26 are in Galway - six in the city and 20 in the county.
Galway has not been as badly hit as have Cork (96 ), Tipperary (33 ), or Roscommon (35 ), but still lies midway on the list of all 26 counties.
The academics behind the NIRSA survey believe that around half of the 600 ghost estates will be taken over by NAMA which will then have to decide if it will sell, lease, maintain, hold, develop, or destroy the buildings.
There are also concerns that some developers are keeping ‘ghost estates’ off the market or hiking prices in the hope that NAMA will value them higher and take the developments off their hands.
