Mayo has the second highest number of vacant homes in the country according to a new report published this week.
The latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report for quarter four 2021 found that Mayo was had the second highest residential vacancy rate in the country, standing at 11.9 per cent, well above the national average of 4.4 per cent. The only county that came above Mayo in this table was Leitrim, with a vacancy rate of 13.3 per cent.
The report also found that Mayo came out on top nationally when it came to derelict buildings, with 2,924 derelict buildings listed in the county in the report. While this was a drop of 4.9 per cent on the previous year, it still registered at 13.2 per cent of the derelict buildings nationally counted in the report.
The report found that 296 new residential address points were added to the GeoDirectory database in 2021 in Mayo, while a further 424 residential buildings were under construction in the county in quarter four 2021. In total, 18,047 new address points were recorded in Ireland in 2021, with over a quarter located in Dublin (29.6 per cent ), a year-on-year decrease of 26 per cent in the capital. At 48.9 per cent, almost half of the total of new addresses were found in the Greater Dublin area of Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.
In regards to construction activity, the report stated there were 424 active residential construction sites in the county in Q4 2021, representing 2.2 per cent of the national total.
The average residential property price in Mayo was €171,711 in the 12 months to October 2021, with a total of 1,216 transactions taking place. Looking specifically at the towns in the county, the highest average residential property price was in Westport at €229,658.
The average residential property price rose in every county over the period in question. The average national (not mix-adjusted ) house price during the 12-month period to October 2021 was €321,596, an increase of 9.4 per cent on the equivalent 2020 figure. Dublin remained the most expensive location to buy a house in Ireland, with an average price of €496,652. The lowest average house price over the 12 months to October 2021 was recorded in Longford, at €142,298.
Commenting on the findings of the latest Residential Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory said: "Covid-19 has proved to be a substantial speed-bump for the delivery of housing supply in Ireland.
"The knock-on impact of the closure of construction sites in early 2021 can be seen in the relatively low number of new address points added to the GeoDirectory database, which was down 17.4 per cent on the previous year. However, residential construction activity has rebounded strongly since reopening fully in April, with 19,495 buildings recorded as being under construction in Q4 2021, the highest figure recorded since we started this report in 2014. This indicates a strengthening residential supply pipeline going into 2022."
