Planning hinders housing demand

MORE than 500,000 houses will have to be built in the next 10 years to keep pace with escalating demand, the Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA) revealed yesterday.

But the planning system continues to be a bottleneck to development and needs to be streamlined so the delivery of major housing developments no longer takes up to seven years, IHBA chairman Matt Gallagher warned.

He told a conference on Planning for Ireland's Future Housing Needs the value of houses to be built in the next decade will be around €120 billion.