EXCLUSIVE: Number of vacant homes in Leitrim drastically reduced by council

As the housing crisis continues to impact many across the country, new figures have revealed that Leitrim County Council is in possession of just 11 vacant homes within Leitrim. 

According to Leitrim County Council's Housing Department, there are just 11 vacant housing units in the ownership of the council which is a significant improvement in comparison to last year's figures. 

In confirming the figures, a spokesperson from the local authority said: "These houses are vacant as there is planned energy efficiency works being carried out on them."

They also noted: "Our total owned housing stock on 1st January 2025 was 1115 housing units. The current vacancy rate is less than 1% of our overall stock."

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Looking at the figure of vacant homes from a national perspective, the National Oversight and Audit Commission's (NOAC) latest report published at the end of September showed that there were a total of 4,251 housing units owned by local authorities across the country that were vacant at the end of last year. This was up from 4,196 in 2023.

The report also listed Leitrim among 13 local authorities with some of the highest rates of vacant homes within its housing stock in 2024. Last year, 2.78% of Leitrim County Council's housing stock was vacant and now these figures reveal that the figure has been drastically cut, with the council pointing out it is less than 1% now.

The news comes following the Central Statistic Office's report last week, 'Characteristics of Residential Property Purchasers 2022-2024', which showed the impact the housing crisis is having on the demographic of those buying homes across Ireland, and in Leitrim.

The median price of homes sold in the county last year was €184,500. The breakdown of the median price of homes across Leitrim's local electoral areas last year saw Manorhamilton come in at €180,000, Ballinamore at €160,5000, and Carrick-on-Shannon at €195,000.

Last year, the national median income of those who bought homes was €84,400, up from €80,100 in 2023, and €75,600 in 2022.