Published: Wednesday, 3rd February, 2010 6:01pm

Over 5,600 houses lie vacant locally

More than 5,600 houses constructed during the building boom in both counties Westmeath and Roscommon remain vacant or abandoned today.

Research from the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis shows that there is an oversupply of houses of 344.2% in Roscommon - one of the worst-affected counties - and an oversupply of 99.3% in Westmeath.

The figure includes vacant houses available for sale, vacant houses available for rent, vacant houses that are not on the market, and abandoned properties, but does not include holiday homes.

The NIRSA compiled data on "ghost" housing estates that lie empty and abandoned throughout the country, using data from Census 2006, the Department of Environment, Local Government and Heritage, and Geodirectory.

Evidence of the building spree was also contained in the new figures.

According to the analysis, there were 4,485 new houses built in Westmeath over a three-year period from April 2006 to 2009, while the population increase over ten years from 1996 to 2006 was 16,032. According to the NIRSA research, the number of homes that were required based only on that population growth was 2,250 in the three years In Roscommon there were 4,373 new houses built in the three year period from April 2006 to 2009.

The population in the county increased by 6,793 over the ten years from 1996 to 2006.

According to NIRSA, only 984 houses were required based on that growth.