Homebuilding was up 4.4 per cent in the third quarter when compared with the same period last year, data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Housing and homelessness was the key issue for voters in Friday’s general election, exit poll data said. So far, the number of homes completed is marginally behind the number of properties completed at the same time last year.
The CSO has reported that 21,634 new homes have been delivered in the nine months to the end of September compared with 22,325 in the same period in 2023. The government decided last month to raise housing targets to 50,500 a year up to 2030.
The plan envisages 303,000 homes being built from 2025-2030. Coalition leaders agreed to a 41,000 home target for next year, rising to 43,000 homes in 2026; 48,000 in 2027; 53,000 in 2028; 58,000 in 2029; and 60,000 in 2030.
The CSO’s building and construction index shows production volume overall, which includes the non-residential and civil engineering sectors, grew by 4.5 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year.
Production in the non-residential sector was up 5.7 per cent, while it was up 0.8 per cent in the civil engineering sector.
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The data shows that while production in the residential sector was up on an annual basis in the third quarter, it was down 4.1 per cent when compared with the second quarter.
The volume of production in construction overall was up by 0.9 per cent over the same period, with the volume index for the non-residential building sector up 0.9 per cent, and the volume index for the civil engineering sector up 2.4 per cent.
When adjusted to account for seasonal factors, the value of production in building and construction rose by 6.5 per cent on an annual basis and by 0.9 per cent compared with the previous quarter.
Excluding civil engineering, the seasonally adjusted value index grew by 2 per cent on a quarterly basis and by 7.2 per cent on an annual basis.
Ian Lawlor, managing director of Roundtower Capital, a private equity firm for property and construction finance, said the quarterly fall in residential building was “disappointing”.
“We would hope that the outcome of the general election will have a huge positive impact on output,” he said, adding it is a “particularly critical time” for project delivery across housing and key infrastructure in Ireland.
“There needs to be an exponential increase in the number of houses being built so that young people here have a chance of owning their own home and so that the rate of house price growth is kept in check,” he said.
“This can be achieved by reductions in third-party blockages, which will in turn reduce building costs and lead to a substantial increase in new builds. Hopefully the energy of a newly-elected government will finally result in these much-needed actions.”
It is estimated that up to €20 billion is required to deliver the government’s new target for housing delivery. Mr Lawlor said the State is facing “a huge funding challenge” in terms of how the funding can be delivered.
He said it was likely that up to 80 per cent of it will need to come from the private sector.
“The new government need to be careful not to scare much-needed private funders and investors away from the housing market,” he said. “There needs to be joined-up thinking between the main banks, government agencies, and non-banks in this regard.”
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