New home completions slowed in the second quarter of 2024 putting the Government’s housing targets for the year at risk.
There were 6,884 new dwelling completions between April and June this year, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has found, a fall of 5.4 per cent on the same period last year. It meant the half-year total of 12,730 completions was down 8.6 per cent on the corresponding period last year.
Last year saw the highest level of residential construction since the Celtic Tiger era with just under 33,000 units completed. However, the latest data points to a slowdown in residential activity, suggesting the industry may struggle to meet the State’s target of 33,450 completions for 2024.
The Government’s Housing for All strategy targets 36,100 completions in 2025 and 36,900 in 2026 but these targets are expected to be upgraded later this year on the back of revised estimates of housing demand.
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The CSO’s latest figures suggest the latest slowdown was – in the main – driven by a fall-off in apartment completions, which stood at 1,566 for the second quarter, down more than 15 per cent on the same quarter last year.
There were 3,949 scheme dwelling completions during the period, down 1.8 per cent, while the number of single dwellings completed was 1,369, down 3 per cent.
The CSO noted that more than half of completions (57.4 per cent) were scheme dwellings, 22.7 per cent were apartments, and 19.9 per cent were single dwellings.
The region with the largest relative decrease in completions at (-19.4 per cent) was the mideast (Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow) while Dublin saw the second largest decrease at (-10.6 per cent) in completions.
Separately a report by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) shows that while commercial construction costs are continuing to rise, the rate of increase has levelled off.
The society’s latest tender price index shows the rate of commercial construction inflation increased nationally by 1.5 per cent in the first six months of 2024, the same rate as the preceding six months.
As a result, the annual median national rate of inflation for the year to date was 3 per cent, half the rate of 6.2 per cent recorded at this point last year.
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