New housing completions up more than 50% this year

DUBLIN: New housing completions are up more than 50 percent this year compared to the previous two years. According to Central Statistics Office figures, there were 7,654 new housing completions in the second quarter (April to June) of 2022. This is an increase of 53.4% ​​from the second quarter of 2021 and 58.8% from the same period in 2019. This is the biggest completion seen in any quarter since 2011.

There was an 88.1% increase in apartments completed in the second quarter of this year, up from 1,284 in 2021 to 2,415. Scheme dwellings accounted for 51% of all completions in the second quarter of 2022, with 31.6% apartments and 17.4% single dwellings.

Completions increased by more than 50% in Dublin, South-West, Mid-East, Mid-West, and the Midlands. The CSO says more than three-quarters of apartment completions were in Dublin (up 78.8% from 1,526 in Q2 2021 to 2,729 in Q2 2022).

All regions across Ireland except the South-East saw an increase in completions in the second quarter of 2022 from the second quarter of 2021.  Apartments accounted for 30% of completions in Cork and 41.1% of completions in Galway City.

More than a third (34.3%) of scheme completions were in Louth, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.

The latest CSO figures “shows the scale of the sectors response to the housing need,” according to Property Industry Ireland (PII), the Ibec group that represents the property and construction industry.

Dr David Duffy director of PII said: “The cost of raw materials has risen significantly, impacting the viability of future delivery. We know from the recent Census that population growth has exceeded projections. There is an urgent need to revise housing targets to take account of this, particularly in our county development plans and land zoning.

“There is also the opportunity for further sustainable and viable growth through reform to our housing design guidance.”