New houses on the up in ireland

The CIF stats show that new build homes in most urban areas around the country continue to increase, new unit starts rising by 0.4 per cent to 1,665 in the first five months of 2013 compared to last year.

Dublin, Cork and Galway all saw numbers grow. Indeed, Dublin saw the greatest increase with 361 units started between January and May 2013, an increase of 72 units or 25% on the 2012 levels when 289 began construction.  Galway has experienced a 38% increase with 51 more units starting bringing the total to 184 in the first five months.  There was also an increase in Cork activity, growing 23 units or 13% with 200 houses beginning construction up until the end of May 2013.

The largest percentage increase was in Carlow which rose by 63% to 26 units, Wicklow which grew by 59% to 35 units and Monaghan which was up 48% to 34 units.  Other areas to experience an increase in housing starts included Roscommon, Offaly, Donegal and Clare.

Several areas also experienced a decline in activity, with Limerick’s being the most pronounced. Work began on 41 units in Limerick during the first 5 months of 2013, a drop of 57% from the same period in 2012. Other noticeable decreases in activity were experienced in Sligo which declined by 51%, Cavan which dropped by 41% and Westmeath which fell by 31%.

CIF Director of Housing, Hubert Fitzpatrick, commented: “These latest statistics are further evidence of the trend in house building.  What we are seeing is in most urban centres the supply is falling and this is creating a strong demand for new housing stock, prompting work to begin on new housing units.  We would expect to see the growth in new house starts continue in Dublin, Galway, Cork and certain other counties, particularly in some of the areas surrounding Dublin.

“What is also noticeable is that the number of housing schemes is on the increase.  In Dublin only 13% of the activity was for one off housing, with 87% of starts involving multiple units.  On a national basis during the first five months of 2013 multiple units made up 26% of the total starts, compared to 20% in 2012.  This emphasises that more sustained house building starting to take place, as opposed to recent years whereby one off housing has been the only real source of activity.

“The house completions figures are not surprising as we do expect there to be a further decline in finished units built this year from the 8,488 built in 2012.  With the number of housing starts slowly picking up and the declining level of vacant stock around the country, our expectation is that 2013 will mark the low point of house completions.  However future supply continues to be constrained by the shortage of development finance and the high costs of construction.  Availability of mortgage finance will also play a major role in determining how the market proceeds from this point,” Mr. Fitzpatrick concluded.