AQW 2835/16-21

Mr Mark Durkan
Social Democratic and Labour Party
Foyle

Tabled Date: 12/09/2016
Answered On Date: 21/09/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the number of empty homes in each constituency.

Answer:

Information on the number of empty homes is held by the Department of Finance’s Land and Property Services. The most recent figures (as at 31/03/16) that Land and Property Services (LPS) have provided to my Department indicate a total of 20, 629 empty residential properties across Northern Ireland. LPS only provide this information by Council area and the table below shows the breakdown;

Council Area	Vacant Properties
Belfast City Council	3745
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council	2601
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council	2332
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council	2223
Mid Ulster District Council	2069
Causeway Coast and Glens District Council	1846
Ards and North Down District Council	1496
Derry City and Strabane District Council	1242
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council	1138
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council	1046
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council	891
Grand Total	20629

LPS have advised that these figures should be treated with caution as there is no requirement for ratepayers to inform Land and Property Services that their property is vacant.

The information provided in this response is governed by the Principles and Protocols of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. This is enforced by UK Statistic Authority.