Nine out of ten bookings on short-term lettings platforms in Ireland were for entire homes, internal Government documents reveal.
In the wake of a Government rowback on an effective ban on new short-term lettings in towns of 10,000 people or more, the figures show the overwhelming majority of bookings are for entire properties rather than renting a room in someone’s home.
The Government changed its plan to introduce restrictions on short-term lets in towns and cities with more than 10,000 people, instead agreeing to their introduction where the population is greater than 20,000.
A paper drawn up by the Department of Tourism and seen by The Irish Times outlines that “90 per cent of stays were in properties advertised as full units (not house shares)”.
This is significantly higher than the split between full homes and individual beds advertised on four of the largest platforms, which, according to statistics compiled by Fáilte Ireland, is 64 per cent.
A spokesman for the Department of Tourism said: “This means that 64 per cent of listed/advertised short term rental properties are entire units and 90 per cent of consumers opt to book this type of accommodation rather than a room in a home-share situation.”
Critics of the short-term letting model say that, particularly in towns and cities, it takes properties off the market that would otherwise be sold to owner-occupiers or let out to renters.
The Government has argued that its new policy will make it harder for properties to enter the short-term letting market, as they will have to obtain planning permission to register with Fáilte Ireland that will become a precondition for using the larger booking engines.
Data in the paper also shows that occupancy rates in the short-term letting sector are low, with analysis of 2024 figures suggesting they range from as low as 3 per cent to a high of 36.2 per cent in properties in Dublin during August of that year.
It states that “there is a very high percentage of [short-term letting] bedspace capacity unused throughout Ireland, even during the peak months of June, July and August 2024.”
The paper was based on CSO and Eurostat data on short-term letting capacity and occupancy for 2024, compared against availability figures gathered by Fáilte Ireland from the four largest booking platforms.
Discussions are continuing in Government about the planning regime to apply to the short-term letting sector after the introduction of a new regulatory regime from May 20th this year, introduced in connection with new EU rules.
Independent Minister Michael Healy-Rae, who represents the tourism hotspot of Co Kerry, has argued for a two-year “sunset” clause for those who do not have planning permission, allowing them time to regularise their status. He also wants a “grandfathering” provision to apply to those who have been operating for a longer time without planning permission.
Under such a provision, an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to future cases.
The Department of Housing is due to issue a National Planning Statement outlining policy on short-term lets and providing guidance for local authorities.
Government figures suggest there are 32,000 listings on short-term letting sites in the State, with analysis from Fáilte Ireland suggesting that 10,000 of these could be brought back into the long-term property market after regulatory reform. Of that figure, about a third are expected to be in Dublin.
The paper outlines that “insufficient housing supply is affecting all sectors of the economy, including tourism”, citing research that indicates that more than half of tourism businesses report housing availability as a barrier to staff recruitment.