A dramatic fall off in house registrations in the month of January is a clear indication that the construction industry is losing its appetite for commencing housing schemes.
The number of building guarantee registrations dropped to 1,430 last month compared to 3,776 national housing registrations for January, 2007, according to figures from the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).
This represents a drop of 62 per cent and, according to the folks over at Construction House, suggests that a very sharp contraction in supply is on the way.
"The uncertainty in the housing market in the last 12 months in now being reflected in the dramatic fall off in supply," warns Hubert Fitzpatrick, director of the Irish Home Builders Association.
Predicting that supply will fall significantly below the required demand, he says this will "curtail choice for new home buyers later in 2008. Current evidence illustrates that it is now cheaper to buy one's own home rather than renting, a situation that is unlikely to be sustained in the future with reductions in housing completions on the cards."
Strong words, but will they be enough to get edgy buyers off the fence?
