merrion street

Mr Eoghan Murphy TD, Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government, today (7 February, 2019) welcomed the publication of the CSO data in respect of housing completions in 2018.

“This is very positive news from the CSO regarding the number of new homes built last year. There was a 25% increase on 2017, with over 18,000 new homes being built.

In addition, more than 2,500 homes were brought out of long term vacancy, and almost 800 dwellings in unfinished housing developments were completed meaning the number of new homes available for use increased by almost 21,500 last year. This does not include the 3,742 bed spaces completed in the student sector in 2018.

While there was a 7% increase in the number of new apartments built, comparing 2018 to 2017, we know that we need to build much more and that some sites were delayed because of changes made to apartment guidelines. New planning permissions for apartments have increased dramatically in 2018.

Rebuilding Ireland is substantially increasing the supply of new homes and we need to drive new builds higher again in 2019.

We know that this increase in supply is contributing to the moderation in the growth in house prices. In the meantime we will continue to make every effort to protect people in housing insecurity, to move people out of emergency accommodation and to help people who are paying too high a rent or who are unable to afford to buy a home. But increasing supply remains at the root of solving all of these problems, and that is exactly what Rebuilding Ireland is doing.”

Link to CSO Report:https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/ndc/newdwellingcompletionsq42018/