A minimum of 81,000 new homes are needed in Ireland by 2020 to meet projected demand, according to the Housing Agency’s latest report.
While the number of houses built last year was up nearly 20% to 15,000, this is not enough to meet the demand for homes across the country, particularly in the major urban areas.
In its report the Housing Agency also said there are almost 92,000 people on housing lists and 7,000 homeless people in Ireland.
David Silk, Policy Director at the Housing Agency, says despite the increase in builds, there are still not enough houses.
Mr Silk said: "It is an increase, it is going in the right direction, but roughly 20,000 to 25,000 new homes is what we require each year up until 2020.
"So, we are falling behind in terms of our production, but there are lots of positive indicators, and activity in the construction industry generally is up."
Their report said that 198,538 dwellings around the country were currently vacant. It also noted that 705,000 people lived in the private rented sector across 325,000 tenancies.
