New building activity in the Republic dropped 40 per cent in the first six months of the year, according to a report by the commercial and residential buildings database GeoDirectory.
The report said 8,119 new buildings were recorded in the first half of the year, compared with 13,545 a year earlier. Of the new additions, 6,682 were residential, 984 commercial and 453 dual purpose.
The figures, which are recorded through a combination of the An Post network and Ordnance Survey Ireland, showed the highest increase in completed new buildings was recorded in Cork City and county where 1,075 residential, 108 commercial and 73 dual purpose buildings were completed during the first half the year.
Leitrim recorded the lowest number of additions, with 74 residential, nine commercial properties and eight dual purpose buildings completed in the six months of 2010. The new buildings bring the total number of buildings in the Republic to 1,873,346.
Since 2001, GeoDirectory recorded an average of 68,000 new buildings per annum, with a peak in 2007 when over 90,000 new buildings were added to the database.
“Based on the current level of activity in the construction sector, GeoDirectory predicts that approximately 15,000 residential and commercial buildings will be completed across the country by the end of 2010,” GeoDirectory’s general manager Dara Keogh said.
