The number of new dwellings completed to the end of September this year is trailing the number of homes completed by the same time last year, according to new analysis from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
A release today from the CSO states that there were 8,939 new dwelling completions July-September this year, an increase of 6.3% on the same three months of 2023.
However, the first and second quarter this year were both down on the same periods last year, resulting in a total output of 21,664 new dwellings to the end of September, compared with 22,335 in the first nine months of 2023.
This comes after Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien estimated earlier this year that 40,000 homes would be built by the end of 2024.
The Central Bank forecasted last month that 52,000 homes per year would be required to deal with the surging demand for housing over the next 25 years.
It also calculated that 70,000 homes per year would be required in order to reduce the housing deficit and meet demand over the next decade.
Commenting on the release, CSO statistician Steven Conroy said that over half of all completions in Q3 2024 (50.2%) were “scheme dwellings”, while 34.6% were apartments and 15.1% single dwellings.
“Scheme completions rose 23.2% from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024 to stand at 4,489 this quarter and accounted for more than half (50.2%) of all completions. There were 3,096 apartment completions in Q3 2024, which was down 7.2% on the same quarter in 2023. Single dwellings fell 5.3% from 1,430 in Q3 2023 to 1,354 in Q3 2024,” Mr Conroy said.
Five of the eight regions of Ireland saw a rise in completions from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024, the region with the largest relative increase in completions at 53.7% was the South-East (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford), followed by the Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, Tipperary) at 45.8%.
Completions rose by 33.5% in the South-West (Cork City, Cork County, Kerry), by 17.4% in the Midlands (Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath) and by 4.8% in Dublin.
Seeing decreases over the same period were the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wicklow) (-20.7%), West (Galway City, Galway County, Mayo, Roscommon) (-14.7%) and Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo) (-7.5%).
Almost 80% of apartment completions in Q3 2024 were in Dublin, with 94.8% of completions in Dublin city July-September being apartments.
The most completions in Q3 2024 by Local Electoral Area (LEA) were in Clondalkin (622), followed by Tallaght Central (393), according to Mr Conroy.