A ghost estate ( ga, Eastát na Sí, "
Fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
estate") is an unoccupied
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States a ...
, particularly one built in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
during the period of economic growth when the
Irish economy was known as the
Celtic Tiger
The "Celtic Tiger" ( ga, An Tíogar Ceilteach) is a term referring to the economy of the Republic of Ireland, economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. ...
. A massive surplus of housing, combined with the
late-2000s recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
, resulted in a large number of estates being abandoned, unoccupied or uncompleted. In 2010 there were more than 600 ghost estates in Ireland, and a government agency report estimated the number of empty homes in Ireland at greater than 300,000.
The National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis defines a ghost estate as developments of "ten or more houses where 50% of the properties are either vacant or under-construction", which therefore does not fully cover the total number of unfinished estates. The 2011 Census lists the number of empty homes to be around 230,000 (excluding the 60,000 holiday homes), around 26% of which are apartments, despite the fact that only 11% of the occupied homes are apartments. Of the 230,000 empty homes in the 2011 census, around 10% of these were in ghost estates. In November 2013, the number of vacant units in unfinished estates was 6,350. As at December 2014 there were 5,563 vacant homes in unfinished estates, however this figure is revised down to 4,453 homes (in the report for unfinished housing developments) as the difference is 1,110 vacant homes in estates no longer deemed to be unfinished. This means that the number of vacant homes in unfinished estates in 2014 had decreased by 30% in one year. The report for 2015 lists the number of vacant homes in unfinished estates to be 2,542. Vacant homes do not include derelict houses and homes under construction.
Republic of Ireland
![NewHouseNoGarden_GhostEstate_Bridgetown_CoWexford_Apr2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/NewHouseNoGarden_GhostEstate_Bridgetown_CoWexford_Apr2012.JPG)
In October 2010, the
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage ( ga, An Roinn Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitiúil agus Oidhreachta) is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage who is ...
reported, using a restricted brief, that there were 33,000 complete or nearly complete empty homes after a national audit and that there were a further 10,000 homes at various stages of construction. The phrase was introduced by journalist and economist
David McWilliams when describing the
Irish property bubble
The Irish property bubble was the speculative excess element of a long-term price increase of real estate in the Republic of Ireland from the early 2000s to 2007, a period known as the later part of the Celtic Tiger. In 2006, the prices peaked ...
in 2006.
It was used as the title of a poetry collection by Irish writer
William Wall in 2011.
The government-funded
research institute
A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...
, the
National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) defines a ghost estate as "a development of ten houses or more in which fifty per cent or less of homes are occupied or completed".
During Ireland's economic boom, which began in the mid-1990s and lasted until 2007, local government incentives, an influx of labour from Eastern Europe and abundant, easily available
consumer credit
Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), ...
combined with house price inflation in Dublin, resulted in a large number of housing estates being built in
commuter town
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
s and villages surrounding the country's capital.
As the boom continued, tax incentives were offered under the Rural Renewal Tax Incentives Scheme to encourage developers to build in smaller towns and rural areas further from Dublin, in counties including
Cavan
Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...
,
Longford
Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...
and
Roscommon
Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads.
The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built ...
.
In 2008, it was reported that Irish banks had lent 25 billion
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
to builders and property developers for the construction of apartments and houses.
Estimates on the number of empty houses varies widely. In October 2008, it was estimated that Ireland had up to 50,000 homes – a year's supply – sitting vacant.
A new survey in January 2009 suggested a surplus of at least 100,000 homes, although the Construction Industry Federation, a body representing the Irish construction industry, quoted a surplus of around 35,000.
A further study, conducted by NIRSA in January 2010 produced data showing there were more than 300,000 vacant new homes in Ireland, and 621 ghost estates.
Additionally, many of the estates are in areas where the number of homes built greatly exceeds the number required, and which are too far from major employment centres;
Leitrim, for example, has a housing surplus of 401%.
The Construction Industry Federation states a figure of 40,000 empty homes, while the Housing Minister
Michael Finneran
Michael Finneran (born 10 September 1947) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Roscommon–South Leitrim constituency from 2007 to 2011, and also served as a Minister of State.
A former psychiatric n ...
told the Cabinet that the number was between 100,000 and 140,000, although a government spokesperson later said that the number was "not precise" and that they did not "have an exact figure".
The exact number of unused or incomplete houses is unknown; a nationwide audit is currently being undertaken, with the results due in Summer 2010.
In 2009, the Irish government announced that it would invest €20m in long-term leases for houses in ghost estates which would be used to decrease the waiting list for
social housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
, a plan criticised by some housing associations, who pointed out the lack of schools and services available to those living on the estates.
Minister Michael Finneran had earlier said that the government would not purchase empty houses in ghost estates to add to its social housing programme.
The
National Asset Management Agency
The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA; ga, Gníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Bhainistíocht Sócmhainní) is a body created by the government of Ireland in late 2009 in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish pr ...
(NAMA), a body created in 2009 by the government to act as a ''
bad bank
A bad bank is a corporate structure which isolates illiquid and high risk assets (typically non-performing loans) held by a bank or a financial organisation, or perhaps a group of banks or financial organisations. A bank may accumulate a large por ...
'' which will take on non-performing assets owned by Irish banks for land and property development deals, may acquire many ghost estates, even if the developer remains
solvent
A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...
.
Commentators have suggested that local authorities may be encouraged to purchase some of the surplus housing.
Every family on Ireland's waiting list for social housing could be accommodated in unused housing, with "hundreds of thousands left over".
However some estates lack infrastructure such as roads and lighting, and have no access to schools and other amenities, and have been described as having, "no potential to be economically viable."
In April 2010,
Ciarán Cuffe
Ciarán Cuffe (born 3 April 1963) is an Irish politician who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Dublin constituency since July 2019. He is a member of the Green Party, part of the European Green Party. He previousl ...
,
Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, announced that the government may force housing developers to
bulldoze
A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...
unfinished estates on which they cannot complete work.
When the government introduced
a household charge in the 2012 budget, a list of 1,321 "unfinished housing estates" were exempted from the charge.
Northern Ireland
Due to the heavy presence of the
public sector
The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infra ...
in the
Northern Irish economy and its presence in the United Kingdom
sterling area
The sterling area (or sterling bloc, legally scheduled territories) was a group of countries that either pegged their currencies to sterling, or actually used sterling as their own currency.
The area began to appear informally during the ear ...
the housing bubble in Northern Ireland was considerably reduced. In spite of that, however, the
Housing Executive estimated in August 2011 that there were up to 5,000 unfinished homes in Northern Ireland, though ghost estates themselves are rare.
Outside Ireland
Ghost estates are not restricted to Ireland. There have been many apartments and other residential areas that were constructed during the 2000s that were never occupied or finished in Spain before its economy collapsed. The United States also has experienced similar effects during
its housing bubble. Many unoccupied homes have been torn down.
Due to the economic slowdown in China, the effects of ghost estates are taking shape. After its stable economic growth from the early 1990s to the early 2010s, the Chinese economy has slowed down. Projects such as new neighbourhoods (such as the
Chenggong District
Chenggong District () is one of seven districts of the prefecture-level city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, Southwest China. The district was approved to build from the dissolution of the former ''Chenggong County'' () by the State C ...
), shopping malls, and even theme parks are empty and/or incomplete because of the economic slowdown. This situation has been compared to Ireland and Spain.
See also
*
Chinese property bubble (2005-2011)
*
Irish property bubble
The Irish property bubble was the speculative excess element of a long-term price increase of real estate in the Republic of Ireland from the early 2000s to 2007, a period known as the later part of the Celtic Tiger. In 2006, the prices peaked ...
References
External links
Shadowland– Exhibition which examines Ireland's built environment in relation to the economic crisis
{{coord missing, Ireland
Economy of the Republic of Ireland
Real estate bubbles of the 2000s