One fifth of private homes built between 2001 and 2006

Almost one fifth of all private homes in Ireland at the last census were built in the preceding five years, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The CSO says almost 250,000 homes - 17.1% of all occupied dwellings at the time of last year's census - were built between 2001 and 2006.

The largest increase in homes were in Co Meath and the Fingal area of Dublin, where more than one-quarter of all dwellings were built in this period.

Elsewhere, apartments and flats accounted for more than 10% of private dwellings in 2006, while almost one-third of homes in Dublin are now apartments, flats and bedsits.

Average weekly rents for private accommodation range from €275 in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown to less than €115 in Donegal and Leitrim.