Mayo housing vacancy rate among highest in the country

Mayo County Council’s spend on the maintenance of its housing stock is the lowest per unit in the country.

Meanwhile, the county had one of the highest vacancy rates when it came to local authority dwellings and retrofitted the fewest number of homes nationwide.

The new figures are contained in the Local Authority Performance Indicator Report published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission.

Over €300 million was spent on housing maintenance in 2025, an increase of 6.57% on the previous year.

The maintenance cost per unit recorded across the 31 local authorities ranged from €885.90 in Mayo (€973.23 in 2024) to €3,140.70 in Monaghan (€2,864.61 in 2024).

The number of vacant social housing units fell to its lowest level in a decade last year However, 11 local authorities, including Mayo (3.56%) recorded vacancy rates above the national average of 2.44%.

By the end of 2025, the council had 2,665 properties in its housing stock. Of these, 135 were constructed or acquited during the course of the year. The local authority sold 17 dwellings last year.

It took Mayo County Council an average of 41 weeks to re-let dwellings that had become vacant in 2025.

A total of 2,671 local authority homes were retrofitted across Ireland in 2025, up slightly from 2024, when 2,634 were retrofitted.  

The lowest number of retrofitted houses was Mayo County Council (11), followed by Westmeath (14), and Leitrim (16).

In 2025, Mayo County Council had the best record when it came to inspecting private rented accommodation.

Inspections of private rented accommodation are carried out by local authorities to ensure it meets the required minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019.

Mayo County Council far exceeded the 2025 target of 25% with more than 44% of properties inspected. The overall inspection rate last year was 18.90%, a decrease from 18.93% in 2024.