The number of homes being completed will have to rise substantially for the remainder of the year if the Government is to have any hope of meeting its annual target of 41,000 units, the latest housing update has warned.
It also cautioned that a fall-off last year in planning permissions presented a possible medium-term risk for housing output.
There were 5,938 new home completions in the first three months of the year, a rise of 2 per cent on the same period in 2024, the Department of Housing’s monthly housing update said.
While there has been a slight rise, the department’s assessment was that home completions for the first three months of the year were broadly in line with the same period last year. In all, 30,330 dwellings were completed during 2024. This annual figure represented a 6.7 per cent decrease on 2023 and was well short of the target of 40,000.
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“Home completions ... will have to accelerate significantly through the year to move toward the target of 41,000 units for 2025,” the department said in its latest assessment.
Looking at the 12 months ending on March 31st this year, the update noted there was a 4.2 per cent drop in home completions in comparison to the previous 12-month period.
The biggest factor behind this was a substantial reduction in the number of apartments completed. There were 8,920 finished, a 17 per cent year-on-year decrease.
The fall-off in apartment building was also reflected in planning permissions for the final three months of last year. There had been more than 6,000 in the last three months of 2023 compared to 2,922 in the same period in 2024.
“A large fall-off in applications for apartments dragged annual aggregate figures lower, reflecting ongoing regulatory and viability challenges for the private rented sector. It is important that the Government continues to address these obstacles in the short-term,” the update report stated.
However, the assessment does identify some potentially positive trends.
It notes a substantial increase in commencement notices registered in April last year in response to deadlines for state incentives to accelerate supply through waivers and rebates.
“Projects associated with the surge in commencement notices in April 2024 should become apparent in completions data from Q2 [April to June] this year, if the timing from commencement notice to completion is consistent with the historic lag between the series,” the report stated.
The update put annual property price inflation at 8 per cent in February. In Dublin, the median price for a home was €475,000, a rise of 6.7 per cent in a year.
There was also an increase of more than 10 per cent in the number of new mortgages being drawn down, with 9,190 in total, almost 60 per cent of which went to first-time buyers.
The wholesale price of construction was up 1 per cent in March compared to the same time a year ago.
