Social homes costing more and taking longer to re-let, new report shows

Reasons cited as contributing to longer re-letting times and costs included shortage of contractors and some building supplies, and refusals of offers

By December 2022, local authorities owned 146,438 social housing units and added 3,862 units to the social housing stock that year, figures show. File picture

Social homes are taking longer to re-let and costing more to find new tenants to rent them, according to a report by a Government oversight body.

The report of the National Oversight and Audit Commission (Noac), takes in 44 performance indicators from the local government area across housing, roads, waste and planning. 

In the report for 2022, Noac found by December 2022, local authorities owned 146,438 social housing units and added 3,862 units to the social housing stock that year.

There has also been a reduction in social housing vacancies to 3.03% in 2022, from 3.16% in 2021, and the number of private rented inspections has risen from 17,594 in 2021 to 40,282 in 2022, an increase of over 129%, largely down to the ending of covid restrictions.

However, the national average re-letting time increased in 2022 to 35.22 weeks from 34.44 weeks in 2021 and the average letting cost was €21,886.04, compared to €19,653.39 in 2021.

Comparing the six main urban authorities of Cork, Dublin, and Galway Cities, and the county councils of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin, the new data shows the longest average re-letting time across these six authorities was recorded by Cork City at 58 weeks, though this is down 17 weeks on 2021. 

Cork City

Cork City is also spending less on re-letting, with its average cost just over €14,600. Cork City Council also re-tenanted more homes in 2022, 180, than in 2021, when it was 147. 

In the urban councils, the shortest re-letting time was recorded at 19.97 weeks by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

Wexford County Council had the shortest reletting time at 11.51 weeks, an improvement of two weeks on its 2021 figure. Longford recorded the largest increase in the average re-letting time from 67 weeks in 2021 to 99.48 weeks in 2022, an increase of 32.48 weeks. 

However, Noac said it was "important to note that this includes three long-term voids retenanted in 2022, totalling 2,256 weeks vacant in and of themselves". 

"If these three properties were discounted, Longford believes that this would reduce their re-letting time by 55%."

In 2022, the average re-letting cost increased for 11 local authorities, from their 2021 figures. The lowest average re-letting cost was recorded by Wexford at €11,909.85, an increase of €2,852.14 on its 2021 figure of €9,057.71. 

Longford had the highest re-letting cost at €35,925.76, an increase from its 2021 cost of €26,524.73. 

Mayo County Council explained difficulties contributing to longer re-letting times and costs included shortage of contractors and some building supplies and refusals of offers, which Noac said would be the case for many councils.

The Noac report also showed 81.1% of motor tax transactions were conducted online in 2022, which is a reduction from 86.18% in 2021, and there were 10,687,986 visits to libraries in 2022 and 13,899,201 items issued to borrowers. The number of registered members in the library service was 730,541.