Census 2022 shows falling home ownership rates – CSO
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of homes owned without a mortgage or loan increased by 11% to nearly 680,000 while the number owned with a mortgage or loan fell by 1% in 2022.
Compiled from data in Census 2022, today’s CSO figures also show that the housing stock increased by more than 5% to stand at 2,112,121 between April 2016 and April 2022.
The CSO said the number of occupied homes increased by 8% to 1.85 million while the number of vacant dwellings fell by 11% to 163,433.
It noted that just under 48,000 homes that were vacant in the 2016 census were also vacant in the 2022 census.
Today’s figures also reveal that the housing stock increased in each county since 2016 up to 2022, with the fastest growth recorded in Meath and Kildare (over 11%) and the slowest in Tipperary (2%).
It noted that in counties such as Tipperary, Donegal and Leitrim, the number of occupied dwellings increased at more than twice the rate of the housing stock.
At State level, the population growth rate was higher than that of the housing stock, 8% compared with 5%, respectively.
The CSO said this trend started in Census 2016, reversing the pattern seen in the 20 years from 1991 to 2011 when the number of homes went up by more than 70% while the population grew by 30%.
The Census figures show that over 655,000 dwellings had three bedrooms, accounting for 36% of the occupied housing stock in Ireland.
The administrative county with the highest proportion of three bedroom properties was South Dublin while County Galway had the largest proportion of four bedroom dwellings.
Meanwhile, there were 58,869 occupied dwellings with an average of more than one person per room and 9,271 households with an average of more than two people per room.
Of the 1.8 million occupied dwellings, 1.5 million or 83% had an internet connection. Mobile phones were the most common type of device used to connect to the internet within households.
But one in five households headed by someone aged 65 or over had no internet connection of any kind, the CSO noted.
Today’s figures also reveal a significant increase in the number of households headed by someone aged 65 and over renting from a private landlord to almost 17,000 households, up 83% since 2016.
The CSO said the average weekly rent in private rental accommodation increased by 37% between 2016 and 2022.
They also reveal that the number of homes in the country with solar panels was 119,300 or 6% of occupied dwellings.
Article Source: Census 2022 shows falling home ownership rates – CSO – RTE
