There was a 35 per cent increase in new dwelling completions in the second quarter of the year compared with the same period of 2024, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
There were a total of 9,214 new dwellings completed in April, May, and June, made up of 3,053 apartments, a figure double that of the same quarter in 2024.
This brings completions to 32,717 over the past 12-months, which was the highest level since 2009.
There was a 17 per cent increase in scheme houses completed, up from 3,959 to 4,643. Meanwhile, single dwelling completions rose 13 per cent from 1,342 to 1,518.
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Scheme dwellings accounted for half of new dwelling completions with nearly a third apartments and 17 per cent single dwellings.
Just 30,330 homes were completed during 2024, while the programme for government pledges to deliver more than 300,000 by the end of 2030. This year’s target is 41,000.
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A spokesman for Bank of Ireland’s economic research unit said the “disappointing” out-turn in 2024 was primarily due to “volatile, lumpy apartment completions figures”, which bounced back in the second quarter.
“The bigger picture is that despite viability concerns there are still 16,260 apartments under construction in Dublin at end-2024, close to a two-and-a-half year pipeline,” he said.
“In contrast, housing completions have shown a steady gradual upward trend, continuing into 2025, 22,300 built over the past 12 months.”
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Meanwhile, the spokesman added that the bank’s latest analysis of MyHome data show the median home sale in July was settled 8.6 per cent above the original asking price, which was a fresh high.
Close to one-in-five of transactions was settled 20 per cent or more above asking price. “This points to more momentum in pricing than we had thought,” he said.
“So the risk to our forecast for 5 per cent house price inflation in 2025 lies to the upside.
“We also estimate transaction volumes in the first half of 2025 were up 2 per cent on the year, a partial recovery following the 3.4 per cent decline to 61,000 homes purchased in 2024.
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“Completions in the first half were up 20 per cent and we need just 10 per cent growth in the second half to achieve our forecast of 34,500 completions in 2025. So the risk to our projections for residential completions probably lies to the upside.”
The CSO data also show more than four in 10 completions were in Dublin, with 17 per cent in Louth, Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow.
Six of the eight regions of Ireland saw a rise in completions.
The largest regional increases were in the Dublin at 85 per cent; the Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo) at 38 per cent; the Midlands (Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath) at 33 per cent; Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, Tipperary) at 25 per cent; Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wicklow) at 15 per cent; and South-West (Cork City and County, Kerry) at 14 per cent.
There were decreases in Galway City and in counties Mayo and Roscommon, where they fell 16 per cent, and also in the southeast counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford, where they were down 4 per cent.
More than eight in ten apartment completions were in Dublin (2,528), while, in Dublin City, 97 per cent of completions in the quarter were apartments.
Meanwhile, the most scheme dwelling completions were in Dublin at 1,218. The Border region of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo had the most single completions at 240.
