Homebuilding was up 4.4 per cent in the third quarter when compared with the same period last year, data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Housing and homelessness was the key issue for voters in Friday’s general election, exit poll data said. So far this year, the number of homes completed is marginally behind the number at the same time last year.
The CSO reported on Tuesday that 21,634 new homes have been delivered in the nine months of the year compared with 22,325 in the same period in 2023. The Government decided last month to raise its housing targets to 50,500 a year up to 2030.
The plan envisages 303,000 homes being built between 2025 and 2030. Coalition leaders agreed to a 41,000 target for next year, rising to 43,000 in 2026; 48,000 in 2027; 53,000 in 2028; 58,000 in 2029; and 60,000 in 2030.
The CSO’s building and construction index shows production volume overall, which includes the non-residential and civil engineering sectors, grew by 4.5 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year.
Production in the non-residential sector was up 5.7 per cent, while it was up 0.8 per cent in the civil engineering sector.
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The data show that while production in the residential sector was up on an annual basis in the third quarter, it had slowed by 4.1 per cent on the previous three months.
Ian Lawlor, managing director of Roundtower Capital, a private equity firm specialising in property and construction finance, said the quarterly fall in residential building was “disappointing”.
“We would hope that the outcome of the general election will have a huge positive impact on output,” he said, adding it is a “particularly critical time” for project delivery across housing and key infrastructure in Ireland.
“There needs to be an exponential increase in the number of houses being built so that young people here have a chance of owning their own home and so that the rate of house price growth is kept in check,” he said.
It has been estimated that up to €20 billion will be required to deliver the Government’s new target for housing delivery. Mr Lawlor said the State was facing “a huge funding challenge” in terms of how it can be delivered. He said it was likely that up to 80 per cent of it will need to come from the private sector.
“The new government needs to be careful not to scare much-needed private funders and investors away from the housing market,” he said. “There needs to be joined-up thinking between the main banks, government agencies and non-banks in this regard.”
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