So what do we know?
There are 1.985m homes in the country
302,625 are vacant homes and a further 49,000 are holiday homes.
10,000 homes are scheduled to be built in 2010
The average occupied home size is 2.8 people.
The population of Ireland in April 2009 was 4,459,300.
The birth rate in Ireland is 15 per 1000 (one of the highest in the developed world)
The death rate in Ireland is 7.5 per 1000 (one of the lowest in the developed world)
Emigration and Immigration statistics are published by the CSO on an annual basis. The last published statistics cover the year ended April 2009. The last 20 years statistics are
| Net Inflow/ | ||||
| Emigrants | Immigrants | (Outflow) | ||
| Both sexes | 1990 | n/a | n/a | |
| 1991 | n/a | n/a | ||
| 1992 | 33.4 | 40.7 | 7.3 | |
| 1993 | 35.1 | 34.7 | -0.4 | |
| 1994 | 34.8 | 30.1 | -4.7 | |
| 1995 | 33.1 | 31.2 | -1.9 | |
| 1996 | 31.2 | 39.2 | 8 | |
| 1997 | 25.3 | 44.5 | 19.2 | |
| 1998 | 28.6 | 46 | 17.4 | |
| 1999 | 31.5 | 48.9 | 17.4 | |
| 2000 | 26.6 | 52.6 | 26 | |
| 2001 | 26.2 | 59 | 32.8 | |
| 2002 | 25.6 | 66.9 | 41.3 | |
| 2003 | 29.3 | 60 | 30.7 | |
| 2004 | 26.5 | 58.5 | 32 | |
| 2005 | 29.4 | 84.6 | 55.2 | |
| 2006 | 36 | 107.8 | 71.8 | |
| 2007 | 42.2 | 109.5 | 67.3 | |
| 2008 | 45.3 | 83.8 | 38.5 | |
| 2009 | 65.1 | 57.3 | -7.8 | |
| 605.2 | 1055.3 | 450.1 | ||
| Data for 2007 to 2009 is preliminary |
The Live Register (which includes part-time workers and workers on benefits and others not available for work) stands at 423,595 in December 2009. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stands at 12.5% which equates to about 275,000 people. (both sources the CSO). The latest Central Bank of Ireland Report estimates unemployment will rise to 13.5% by the second half of this year. The same report forecasts that there will be a contraction of 2% in the Irish economy in 2010.
What does all of this mean for our population and our requirements for housing? Take a look!
What it means is that the 300,00o vacant stock of properties could last us nearly 100 years, 10 times the stated life-span of NAMA. In fact if emigration spirals which is a distinct possibility it could take longer to clear the overhang.
NAMA Wine Lake 
Excellent article !
However I would say your figures on net emigration are a bit short I would have thought a figure of 30,000 was more realistic which of course paints a even more bleak picture
Thank you for taking the time to present these figures in the first place
Thanks Machholz,
I agree with you for year ended April 2010, I think we could see a net of 100,000 outflow (seriously, the EU Accession emigrants have to a large extent returned to Poland which is growing marginally this year and indeed is developing a nice little property bubble of its own, we are not a beacon for economic migration and anecdotally the numbers of indigenous Irish who have gone to the US, UK and Australia is very high).
However I wanted to attempt prudence (there are some who will say that net migration outflow of 800,000 in the next 100 years is unrealistic to whom I would say there were 500,000 who net migrated to Ireland during the boom).
Thanks again for the comment.
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