The Importance of Bringing Vacant Properties Back to the Market

The team at Onate recently heard architect Hugh Wallace being interviewed on national radio on the topic of how Ireland’s housing crisis can be alleviated. Hugh raised a very important topic, namely the high number of vacant residential properties across the country. He noted that although some of these are large derelict buildings in our cities, many are individual residences over shops on the main streets of our villages and towns. Bringing these residences back into housing market – either for rent or for sale – is an opportunity that is currently being missed.

With regards to our cities, Hugh noted that there are many vacant properties located in Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Waterford, Galway and Limerick. These are also cities that have huge demand for housing, and a shortfall in supply.

Hugh also spoke of the new Living City Initiative which offers tax incentives to those willing to restore and rehabilitate heritage buildings. Bringing vacant properties in towns and cities back into the supply has added benefits when compared to the current strategy of urban sprawl. These include reduced commute times, reduced carbon emissions (from the reduced commute time), and bringing consumers (and their wallets) back into our towns and cities. Renovating a vacant property is also much quicker than building a new property from scratch.

In Budget 2023, Ministers Donohoe and McGrath announced a vacant homes tax. The tax will target homes that are occupied for fewer than 30 days in a 12-month period. The aim of the tax is to bring more housing stock to the market by encouraging people who own vacant or derelict properties to refurbish or sell.

Census 2022 reported 166,752 vacant homes across the country. To put this in context, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), just under 155,000 new housing units (one-off houses, houses in development and apartments) have been completed in Ireland between 2011 and Q3 2022. These numbers paint a stark picture of the problem, but also one possible solution to the current housing crisis.

At Onate, our offering is structured to allow borrowers to release equity quickly and easily from their residential and commercial properties. This equity can then be used to refurbish vacant or derelict properties and bring them back into the housing stock.

Our team of experienced, specialist property lenders offer bespoke property bridging loans to home builders, developers, property investors and entrepreneurs. We are fast and flexible, and we assess each case on its merits. All decisions are taken in-house which means we can move quickly and with certainty.

We have an appetite to lend in all locations nationally – from cities and large towns to small villages and rural locations.