Waterford's residential vacancy rate remains lower than national average

The residential vacancy rate was 2.1% in Waterford Q4 2024 according to the latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report.

This was lower than the national average of 3.8%.

The highest vacancy rates in the country can be found in the west of Ireland with Leitrim (11.8%), Mayo (10.6%), Roscommon (10.3%), Donegal (9.0%) and Sligo (8.2%) recording the largest proportions of vacant residential properties.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest vacancy rates were found in Dublin (1.2%), Kildare (1.5%), Waterford (2.1%) and Carlow (2.5%).

743 new residential address points were added to the GeoDirectory database in Waterford throughout 2024. Nationally 34,686 new address points were recorded last year.

The highest proportion of new address points was in Dublin, representing 38.1% of the overall total, followed by Cork (10.8%), Meath (5.7%) and Kildare (4.7%).

There were 574 buildings under construction in the County in December 2024.

Nationally, the largest share of buildings under construction were in Dublin at 18.7% (4,162 buildings). Cork (3,002), Kildare (1,438), Meath (1,312), Louth (1,141) and Galway (1,126) were the other counties with over a thousand buildings under construction at the end of last year.

Construction activity was weakest in Longford where only 85 buildings were under construction, followed by Leitrim (121) and Roscommon (162).

20,092 residential address points across the State were classified as derelict in Q4 2024, with 1.4% of these properties located in Waterford. The highest concentration of derelict properties was recorded in Mayo (14.0%), followed by Donegal (11.6%) and Galway (8.8%).

The average residential property price in Waterford was €291,679 in the twelve months between November 2023 and November 2024. Prices increased in all 26 counties in the State.

The highest property price was in Dublin, with an average of €565,351. Wicklow (€488,829) and Kildare (€412,839) were the only other counties in which the average property price exceeded the national average.

The lowest average prices were recorded in Leitrim (€190,000), Longford (€196,532) and Roscommon (€205,333).

Speaking about the findings of the latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory said, “There was a substantial increase in the number of residential address points added to the GeoDirectory database throughout 2024. The number of buildings under construction has remained relatively stable, indicating that the strong pipeline of new homes will continue into 2025.”

Annette Hughes, Director at EY Economic Advisory said, “The latest GeoDirectory report spotlights a continuing and encouraging downward trend in both national vacancy and dereliction rates, as our growing population and policy initiatives are having an impact. More broadly while the number of new address points increased significantly last year, it will be critically important going forward to ensure the right policies, housing supports and infrastructure are in place to accelerate the delivery of housing supply for all tenures in the right locations.”