Fears over State intervention in housing sector

Housebuilding group Abbey says it is concerned over State intervention in its sector in its core markets of Britain and Ireland and has urged both countries’ governments to sell more land to private developers.

The Co Meath-headquartered group, which also operates in the Czech Republic, saw profit returning to its Irish operations in its last financial year (for the 12 months to the end of April) for the first time in four years.

The company is hopeful of increasing its number of house sales in Ireland from 30 to 100 in the medium-term and feels the Irish market can reach a sustainable level of annual new house builds of 15,000 to 20,000 units within the next five years.