There was a 30% fall in the number of new buildings built last year compared with 2010, according to newly released figures from GeoDirectory - a joint venture between Ordnance Survey Ireland and An Post.
In 2011, 12,237 new buildings were built in the Republic, bringing the total number of buildings to 1.88 million. Last year’s figures compared to 96,000 new buildings at the height of the construction boom in 2007, meaning there has been a decrease of 87% in activity since then.
The biggest number of new buildings was in Cork, with 1,543. Leitrim recorded the smallest figure of 154. Sligo, where 217 new buildings were identified, showed the biggest fall in new building activity with a 63% drop compared with 2010.
Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Limerick and Waterford all bucked the national trend, showing small increases in new building additions. The average increase recorded across these counties was 12%, with the largest increase of 34% seen in Kildare, where 483 new buildings were identified.
Of the total built last year 10,284 were residential buildings, 1,661 were commercial and 292 dual-purpose buildings with both residential and commercial components.
GeoDirectory revealed that the number of buildings in the Republic now stands at 1,885,785.
