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Empty Housing growing in Northern Ireland

from "UK Landlord" magazine, May 2007

The University of Ulster has recommended that Northern Ireland's Housing Executive should be given power to manage the growing number of vacant properties in the housing sector in order to tackle rising demand for housing.

Research conducted by the University suggests that bringing vacant housing onto the property market could slow rapid house price growth in Northern Ireland, which is exceeding that in many other regions of the UK, and pushing first-time buyers out of the market. There are 38,000 vacant dwellings across Northern Ireland, an increase of 4,000 since last year. Results of the study suggest that a large proportion of the empty properties is due to an influx of investors buying property for capital appreciation, rather than for rental income.

With over 32,000 people on the housing waiting list, nearly half of whom are classed as being in urgent need of housing, the University is calling for immediate action to be taken to address the problem.

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