The drip-drip analysis of the results of Census 2011 – taken on the night of Sunday, 10th April 2011 – continues with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this morning releasing further information on our housing. Some of the information has emerged previously, but there is both additional detail published this morning as well as totally new information. The CSO’s press release is here and the report itself is here.
Possibly the most striking change in Irish residential property between the previous census in 2006 and Census 2011 was the surge in households renting their accommodation rather than purchasing it. Whilst the overall population of the State grew by 8% between 2006 and 2011, the number of households paying rent to private landlords grew by a staggering 120% from 145,317 to 320,319 – overall renting households increased by 47% from 323,007 to 474,788 but the increase in local authority/housing association renting was much less than the increase in private landlord renting. Research into reasons behind this phenomenon would be interesting, but a mortgage credit drought, declining house prices, rocketing unemployment and an economy which shrank by 10% will all have played a part.
What is just as fascinating on here is the assumption on the part of some that the renting phenomenon evidenced in 2006-2011 was temporary and will be reversed as soon as economic conditions stabilise. There seems to be an assumption that there is some ingrained social need in Ireland to own property. But there was once also a need to be guided by the Church, to be deferential to banks and politicians and to generally acquiesce with the groupthink emanating from Dublin 2/4. Whilst the spurt in the number of households renting might indeed reverse when the economy stabilises, the trend might also continue with a generation still warned off owning property by the experience of the last decade.
Here are the highlights of today’s report:
General
- Population of 4,581,269 in 2011 up from 4,239,848 in 2006
- 1,994,845 dwellings in the State up from 1,769,613
- 1,649,408 households in the State, up from 1,462,296
- Average household size of 2.73, down from 2.81
- 56,000 households comprising just visitors or residents temporarily absent
- 289,451 vacant dwellings in 2011 up from 266,331 in 2006
- Of the vacant dwellings, 59,395 are holiday homes up from 49,789
- 474,788 households renting in 2011, up from 323,007
- Households renting from private landlords increase by 120% from 145,317 in 2006 to 323,007 in 2011
- Home ownership falls sharply from 74.7% in 2006 to 69.7% in 2011
Vacant dwellings
- Excluding holiday homes, there were 230,056 vacant dwellings in 2011
- 168,427 were houses and 61,629 were apartments
- Dublin has 17,597 vacant houses and 25,333 vacant apartments
- Longford has 3,758 vacant dwellings, one of the lowest number in the State
- Cork has 25,987 vacant dwellings, with nearly 20,000 OUTSIDE Cork city
- Limerick has 9,661 vacant dwellings, with over 7,000 OUTSIDE Limerick city
- Galway has 15,364 vacant dwellings, with 11,792 OUTSIDE Galway city
- Mayo has 12,000 vacant dwellings, Donegal 13,000 but Leitrim has only 4,000
- The vacancy rate including holiday homes is highest in Leitrim at 30.5%
Holiday Homes
- 59,395 in April 2011 up from 49,789 in 2006
- Donegal has highest number of holiday homes at 10,636
- Cork, Kerry and Wexford also have large numbers of holiday homes
- 777 holiday homes in Dublin
- Laois has lowest number of holiday homes by county at 149
Rented accommodation
- 474,488 households renting
- 130,000 renting from a local authority
- Households renting from private landlords increase by 120% from 145,317 in 2006 to 323,007 in 2011
- Average weekly rent is €166 with private landlords, €59 for local authorities
- Average weekly rent with private landlords fell 7.6% (or €14 per week) between 2006 and 2011
- Average weekly rent with local authorities rose 0.3% (or 20c) between 2006 and 2011
Mortgages
- 583,148 households have mortgages (the Central Bank says there are over 750,000 mortgage “accounts” on principal residences, the difference is being investigated)
- There has been a decline in mortgaged households of 10,000 since 2006
- 459,805 mortgaged households are described as “at work”
- 50,792 are described as being “unemployed”
- 72,551 are described as being “not in labour force”
Foreigners
- There are 42,724 Polish households in 2011 compared with 18,667 in 2006
- Over 40,000 Polish households rent, with 1,820 mortgaged households
- There are 50,506 British households in 2011 compared with 46,277 in 2006
- Over 31,000 British households own their home
- There are 36,304 EU Accession households excluding Poles
- There are 15,840 African households, up from 13,200 in 2006
- There are 21,646 Asian households, up from 14,517 in 2006
Lifestyle
- 1,051,942 households have broadband connection
- 426,096 households are not connected to the internet
- Only 26,952 households are not centrally heated
- 2,555 households have no sewerage facility
- Nearly 500,000 households have their own septic tank or individual treatment system
- 161,532 households have their own water source
NAMA Wine Lake 
Interesting summary. Just to note, Longford may well have the lowest number of vacant dwellings in the state. It also has one of the lowest numbers of households. The raw numbers whilst useful need to be standardised for their full impact to be realised. As a rate of vacancy Longford is one of the highest in the state. Same with Leitrim – “it only has 4000” vacant units, but as your next line states, it has 30.5% vacancy (inc holiday homes) and over 20% (exc them).
The difference between the Central Bank and Census statistics on mortgages is reasonably straightforward and does not need much investigation. The Central Bank measure mortgage accounts; the Census measures households.
Details from the Central Bank show that for every 100 owner-occupied residential properties that are mortgaged there are about 127 separate mortgage accounts. For one example of the Central Bank on this see slides 9 and 10 here. Some properties have more than five mortgage accounts linked to them!
Using the 1:1.27 ratio the 583,000 households with mortgages would equate to around 740,000 mortgage accounts. Including mortgage accounts from the 45,000 households where the residents were temporally absent on Census night and we would achieve the 760,000 mortgage accounts in the Central Bank bank from the households in the Census data.
1,994,845 households, does that mean the state has yet to collect 900,000 household charges?
A “household” does not necessarily refer to an owner-occupier. The so-called “household charge” is a misnomer. It is a tax on house-free-hold-owners.
By the way, the term “household” is a long-standing “blind-spot” for the law. Despite many cases where lack of a definition of the word has caused upsetting results, it still remains a vague area legally. I have written about it here http://bit.ly/OwXwTq
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