Latest figures show a fall in property vacancy rates across the country

The national vacancy rate for property was 4.3% in the final three months of 2021, latest figures show.

This rate was 2.3% in Dublin and 5.1% for the Rest of Ireland, figures released on Tuesday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveal. 

There has been a slight rise in the vacancy rate in Dublin over the last few years from a low of 1.7% in Q1 2018. Nationally, there has been a fall in vacancy rates from a high of 4.9% in Q1 2016.

The vacancy rate in Q4 2021 for rural areas (7.5%) was more than double the rate in urban areas (2.9%).

The highest percentage of vacant dwellings at a local authority level was in Leitrim (10.6%), Roscommon (9.5%), and Mayo (8.7%), with the lowest rates in South Dublin (1.4%), Fingal and Kildare (both 1.9%).

At a Local Electoral Area level, Swinford in Mayo had the highest rate of vacancy at 12.2% in Q4 2021, while the lowest was in Leixlip in Kildare and Tallaght Central in Dublin (both 0.7%).

In Q4 2021 - where a match can be made to a Building Energy Rating (BER) assessment - vacancy rates were highest for apartments (3.7%) and lowest for semi-detached houses (1.8%).

Vacant dwellings were more likely to have a BER of F or G compared with all dwellings with a BER assessment. Ratings of F or G were given to 35.3% of dwellings vacant in Q4 2021 in their most recent BER assessment, but only 10.2% of all dwellings had one of these ratings."