The rate of house building in Ireland is expected to be the highest in Europe this year at double the average.
That’s according to a new study from consultancy firm EY which anticipates that some 36,000 new homes will be built this year with another 41,000 anticipated for 2025.
Those numbers are above the 35,000 homes a year targeted under existing government policy but below the 50,000 target widely anticipated to be adopted by the Coalition. In December EY-Euroconstruct had forecasted 33,450 new housing completions this year.
The forecasts from EY-Euroconstruct have found that housing completions per 1,000 of the population in Ireland will be at 6.9 in 2024 and 7.7 in 2025, more than double the overall average (3.3 per 1,000 in 2024 and 3.1 in 2025).
Total Irish construction output, which also includes non-residential and civil engineering, is forecast to grow by 3.9% in 2024, the highest in the Euroconstruct area, and 5.7% in 2025. The volume of new non-residential building (including retail, office and industrial buildings, student accommodation and hospitality) is also expected to break even in 2024 before recovering modestly in 2025 (up 1.3%).
Director at EY Economic Advisory and member of Euroconstruct, Annette Hughes, said completions next year will be the highest since 2008 and is running ahead of a European trend. “This pace of new housing growth in Ireland, the fastest in Europe when measured on a per-population basis, is a significant outlier when compared to the European average as assessed by Euroconstruct members, where supply is projected to contract in both 2024 and 2025,” she said.
She cited a range of factors for the acceleration in house building output here, including policy interventions to speed up the delivery and drive down the cost of construction, particularly for the delivery of affordable and cost-rental housing as well as a shift within the construction sector from office to residential projects.
"The extension of temporary waivers (of local authority levies), which have spurred a significant increase in commencements notices in recent months, are expected to result in the highest level of completions since 2008 next year,” she said.
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