Regional variation in building activity

The first ever all-island Housing Construction Index points to dramatic regional variations in construction activity.

The National Housing Construction Index compiled and issued by Link2Plans has identified a continued decrease in housing construction activity.

For the first time ever, an all-island index has been published, monitoring construction activity in both the Republic and the North.

The National Housing Construction Index examines every housing construction planning application and planning commencement throughout the months of Jan through to Jun 2012.

The index gives a direct comparison with the exact same period in 2011.

The housing construction index found that the planning applications are down 19%.

Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim bucked the national trend and posted marginal increases.

The largest fall in Applications is still Kildare (down 41%). Counties Kerry (down 38%), Clare (35%), Mayo (31%), Louth (31%) and Meath (30%) have shown the next biggest percentage decreases.

Commencement notices which are issued when construction starts were down 7% across the country.

This decrease has slowed down marginally. Volume One showed a decrease of 14% and Volume Two only a slight decrease again of 13%.

Volume Three, which shows the national figure for Planning Commencements for the first half of 2012 show a 7% decrease on the same period last year.

The largest fall is in Monaghan where figures are down 39%, followed by Roscommon (down 29%) and Tipperary (29%).

There has been a slight rise in commencement activity across the period too in Westmeath (up 15%), Cork (up 8%) and Cavan (up 5%).