Existing buildings are the most readily available, cheapest, quickest and most sustainable source of housing supply in the short term. In addition to 183,000 vacant dwellings recorded in Census 20161, there were more than 28,000 vacant commercial addresses in mid 2017, a national vacancy rate of 13.5%; parts of Dublin city have very high vacancy rates with over 18% in Dublin 2 and 13% in Dublin.
