The first quarter saw a decline of over 12% in new house completions, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). This drop hints at the potential inability of the government to fulfil their 2024 housing goals. The first three months of the year saw the completion of 5,841 new homes, marking a 12.1% decrease compared to the same timeframe in 2023. These figures seem to shed light on a slow start in the residential construction sector for the year, as signalled by other construction-specific indicators.
The index for residential construction activity from BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland increased to 49.8 in February, however, any score below 50 suggests a reduction in construction activity. John McCartney, the research leader at BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland, had previously highlighted that the speedy increase in home completions may endure a slowdown in 2024, thereby placing the government’s annual goal in jeopardy.
In the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger period, new home completions reached an unprecedented height of 32,695 last year, surpassing the Housing for All target set by the government. The strategy aimed for the completion of 34,600 homes this year, and 36,100 and 36,900 in the subsequent two years respectively.
The latest data from the CSO indicates a 32.6% decline in apartment completions, numbering at 1,603. This can be attributed to the rising interest rates impacting investment funds, a significant driving force for the erection of apartments in Dublin and other urban regions. Scheme dwelling completions for the first quarter totalled at 3,038, marking a 1.4% decrease compared to the same period the previous year. The number of single-unit dwelling completions displayed a slight increase of 1.3%, totalling at 1,200. For the quarter, dwellings under schemes accounted for over half of all completions (52%), while apartments made up 27.4%, and the remaining 20.6% were single dwellings.