Dublin City and County had stockpiled about 2,600 hectares of zoned and serviced land by last June - enough to fill the capital's entire housing requirement for at least the next five years, according to figures released yesterday.
The Housing Statistics Bulletin - September Quarter 2003 also put the State-wide land bank of serviced and zoned land at 12,800 hectares - or enough to supply 369,000 new homes, fulfilling the State's needs for about the next seven years.
The figures come as the seven local authorities in the greater Dublin area are considering their draft development plans for the next five years.
The official figures cover just the first nine months of 2003, but according to the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Noel Ahern, they indicate that 2003 will be the tenth year in a row of record housing output. It was, he said, "proof that the investment being made by Government in water, sewage, roads and other services necessary to support housing development is effective".
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) also said 2003 was likely to set a new record and yesterday put the output for the full year in 2003 at 67,000 new homes - up 16 per cent on the previous record set in 2002.
The CIF remarked that "equilibrium" has now been reached between supply and demand in the housing market, ending the housing crisis.
However, according to Mr Matt Gallagher, chairman of the national committee of the Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA), the figures should not be interpreted as offering the opportunity to ease up on rezoning land "because the more of it on the market the less likely it is to increase on price".
Mr Gallagher also said the association had some difficulty with the Department of Environment figures for development land, remarking that because land was zoned and serviced, it did not mean it carried planning permission or was even in the hands of builders.
