Below is a map of the activity status of unfinished estates across the country.
701 estates are classified as being complete in terms of building work, though they have issues of vacancy
109 estates have not been started
245 estates are active (429 in 2010)
1822 estates are inactive and have outstanding building works
It’s a little difficult to see some of the dots because there are so many estates in certain parts of the country that they overlap on the map (see AIRO to look at on an estate by estate basis), however it’s clear that there is no real pattern to the data. All the counties have a mix of complete, active and non-active sites, though the unstarted developments are clustered around Dublin and Cork. The most worrying issue is the sheer number of inactive estates. Until these become active then the building work required will persist for quite some time, meaning that they will remain a feature of the landscape and that residents will continue to deal with the outstanding issues.
Rob Kitchin and Eoghan McCarthy
Ireland after NAMA 
October 27, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Placing this contribution within a broader context see this discussion on the New York Times website regarding the demolition of foreclosed properties. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/10/26/destroying-houses-to-save-cities/?hp
Clearly there are different place based (governance, financial, institutional and cultural) contexts, not least the presence of property taxes in the US which deters banks from holding onto property in the hope that they market will turn and they will be able to sell it on. Irish banks are largely precluded from or disinclined to repossess family homes. NAMA, on the other hand holds a very significant number of properties.
Given this context it is worth bearing in mind that a property tax is to be introduced in the coming budget. The suggestion is that this will equate to 200e per property (initially…). The changing financial costs of owning and holding property in Ireland will have a range of impacts. Within the context of Rob and Eoghan’s work the emerging financial costs raise a number of questions, including…
1. Will the combination of property tax, water charges and the non-private residence levy reshape property investment decisions particularly amongst those currently stuck with property that is not paying its way. (the change in treatment of rental income for tax purposes is also reshaping the return-on-investment outlook)
2. Will NAMA be subject to the property tax?
3. If NAMA is subject to the tax will its introduction result in the agency trying to dispose of certain assets (apartment blocks in particular) sooner rather than later.
4. Will NAMA come to view demolition of properties in areas with limited prospects of selling in the foreseeable future as a more cost effective option?
David Meredith
February 7, 2012 at 8:56 am
[…] still have an abundance of vacant stock (see this post and this one) and unfinished estates (see this post and this one). There has been practically no change on the housing front over the past year, and […]
February 18, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Hello,
I’m doing my photographic master thesis about the ghost estates in Ireland. Can you help me find an accurate map of these ghost estates? I’m in Cavan untill tomorrow afternoon, the day after tomorrow I will visit Leitrim, Lonhgford, roscommon, Galway and Mayo. I can only stay until saterday 25 february. Pleas respond asap. If this project goes well it will end up in galleries in Belgium and possibly in Dublin.
February 19, 2012 at 10:33 am
Reginald, you will find an interactive map of all 2846 estates from 2010 on the AIRO site. It will also tell you all about the condition of the estates (click on the ‘indicators’ button to change the variable you want to look at. http://www.airo.ie/mapping-module/atlas/Housing/DEHLG%2BUnfinished%2BEstates%2BOct.%2B2010