High level of housing vacancy in Cavan

The report compares levels across the country.

Cavan had one of the highest numbers of vacant properties in the country according to a new report looking at housing stock across the country.

GeoDirectory has found the local area had an 8.2% vacancy rate, well above the national average of 4.4%. Rural counties had the highest vacancy rates, with Leitrim topping the list at 13.3%, with Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal, Sligo, Kerry and Longford the only counties to have higher rates than Cavan.

The report, which looks at residential properties across the country in the last three months of 2021, shows there was an improvement in the number of derelict properties in Cavan over the past five years.

575 properties were listed as derelict last year, a drop of 8.3% compared with 2016. Cavan just falls into the top half of that table, with Mayo topping the list with 2,924.

Only Tipperary and Sligo saw increases in the number of derelict properties over the five year period with rates of 3.6% and 3.3% respectively.

The report also shows 188 new addresses were added to the register in Cavan over the last three months of the year; the fifth lowest figure in the country. 292 new homes are under construction in the county, again the fifth lowest figure.

There’s a warning in the report that there are still significant challenges facing the housing market and buyers.

“Housing and specifically affordability were critical economic and societal issues before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to be so as public health restrictions recede. Rising house prices combined with a shortage of supply continue to place home ownership beyond the reach of greater numbers of first-time buyers, faced with the alternative of rising rental levels.”