Over 10% of Galway City’s housing stock is still unoccupied

The city centre, Knocknacarra and Salthill have the highest levels of vacant homes in Galway City, according to figures just released by the Central Statistics Office.

The preliminary figures from Census 2016 show there are currently a total of 3,671 homes in the city lying empty, of a total housing stock of 35,006.

That represents a vacancy rate of 10.5%, or just over one in every ten homes.

This comes at a time when there are more than 3,200 households on Galway City Council’s housing waiting list.

However, an analysis of the figures from each local electoral division in the city shows much higher vacancy rates in areas like St Nicholas’ Parish (which includes Newtownsmyth and Waterside out to Bohermore, Sandy Road, Terryland and parts of Newcastle) with a 27.5% vacancy rate.

The Eyre Square electoral division (including the Docks, Merchant’s Road, Eyre Square, College Road and up to Cemetery Cross) with a rate of just under 23%, while Knocknacarra has a vacancy rate of 16.4%.

The lowest vacancy rates recorded in Census 2016 were in Ballybrit, Dangan, Rahoon and Newcastle at between 5-6%.

In St Nicholas’ Parish, there is a housing stock of 2,236 – of these, 600 are vacant and a further 14 are vacant holiday homes; the Eyre Square electoral division has a stock of 1,926, with a total of 440 empties (including 13 holiday homes), while Bearna has a stock of 6,109 with 424 empties (25 holiday homes).

Other electoral areas with high volumes of empties include Ballybane with 377 out of a stock of 5,169 (eight holiday homes); Salthill with a stock of 1,909 and 259 empties (54 holiday homes) and the Claddagh with 165 empties (24 holiday homes) from a stock of 1,394.
For a complete breakdown of the figures, as well as extensive coverage of Galway’s Census results, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.