DUBLIN, (Reuters) – Nearly 3,000 housing developments have been left uncompleted across Ireland leaving a legacy of “ghost estates” and providing a stark reminder of the collapse of the “Celtic Tiger” economy, a government survey said.
Ireland’s National Housing Development Survey, published yesterday, said more than 33,000 homes were currently vacant on more than 2,800 new developments built prior to the collapse of the Irish property market.
A further 10,000 had been left at an early stage of development while 77,000 were completed and now occupied.
A spectacular bursting of Ireland’s property bubble which peaked in 2007 left thousands living in misery on unfinished developments surrounded by bleak, deteriorating sites, while owners of homes whose value had collapsed.
Ireland enjoyed a decade-long property boom when developers were lured by generous loans from banks to build houses on cheap land. But cash-strapped developers abandoned projects still in progress after Ireland plunged into its worst recession on record.
Average house prices in Ireland fell by 1.3 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter, the smallest quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2008, the permanent tsb/ESRI House Price Index showed on Wednesday. However, they have fallen 36 percent from a peak at the end of 2006.
Ciaran Cuffe, a minister of state whose portfolio includes planning, said the study provided a clear picture of the extent and scale of unfinished developments.
“We are already initiating an action plan which will address planning, housing, building control and other matters relating to these unfinished housing developments,” he said.
The ministers announced plans to set up an expert group comprising central and local government, the banking and construction sectors, Ireland’s bad bank NAMA, along with members of architectural, planning and engineering institutes.
The group will offer advice on what to do with unfinished housing developments. The government is considering using some for social housing.
