Galway below average for holiday homes

Galway has the lowest level of holiday homes of all the major tourism centres of Ireland, according to newly-published statistics.

The figures show there are 2,186 holiday homes across Galway city and county, which represents just over six per cent of the total number of Irish holiday homes.

That represents just one quarter of the level of holiday homes in Donegal, which has the highest proportion in Ireland.

According to the GeoDirectory database (operated by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland), in July of this year, there are also fewer holidays homes in Galway than Kerry, Cork, Wexford, Mayo and Clare.

In Donegal, there are 8,412 holiday homes (representing 23.6% of the total number of Irish holiday homes); in Kerry, there are 5,621 (15.7%); in Cork there are 3,934 (11%) and in Wexford there are 3,536 (9.9%).

Mayo recorded 3,175 (8.9%) and Clare had 2,725 holiday homes (7.6%) at the time of the survey.

The figures show that is a total of 35,696 holiday homes in the country, which represents 1.8% of the total residential stock. Some of the figures are lower than the 2011 Census, though, as the database is still being compiled.

Overall, there were 250 new residential buildings in Galway recorded on the An Post database during the first six months of this year. The GeoDirectory figures show there are now a total of 109,721 buildings in Galway.

The new buildings are composed of 250 residential buildings, 33 commercial buildings and four dual-purpose buildings with both residential and commercial elements.

The latest report from the researchers also shows that in the year from June 2013 to June 2014, there were a total of just over 1,500 property transactions in the city and county, with an average property price of €161,155.

The database found that there were 2,019,638 residential dwellings across the country. This compares with the 2011 Census of Population which reported a total housing stock of 1,994,845 dwellings.

The GeoDirectory database distinguishes between a ‘dwelling’ which is a single residential unit as opposed to a ‘building’ which can comprise one or more dwellings.

Annette Hughes, Director of DKM Economic Consultants said: “This is the first comprehensive report about the residential building stock of its kind to be published in Ireland.

“By using the data from the PPR, the CSO Census of Population and the GeoDirectory Database we have a unique insight into the residential building stock in Ireland.

“One key statistic which the report highlighted was that the national average housing turnover rate in the year to June 2014 was 1.4%, well below what would be deemed to be a more normal housing turnover rate of around 4 to 5%,” he said.

By combining data on residential property transactions from the Property Price Register and the GeoDirectory Database, an estimate of the rate of turnover of the housing stock can be ascertained. The turnover rate in Galway is 1.3%.

The figures were recorded by 5,600 An Post delivery staff working with experts from OSI.

The database is used by many different companies and organisations across a diverse range of applications.

The emergency services use it for route optimisation when responding to 999 calls, which can save valuable minutes in an emergency, while it is also used by the likes of banks, property websites and pizza delivery companies.