Housing demand won’t be met for three years the Economic and Social Research Institute has estimated

The targeted level of annual new house builds needed to meet consumer demand is unlikely to be met for another three years at the earliest, a leading economic think-tank has suggested.

In its latest quarterly economic commentary, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has estimated that 25,000 new houses will need to be built on an annual basis in order to meet demand and get Ireland’s housing sector back to a sustainable level.

While the ESRI said that the economic contribution from the building and construction sector will increase next year — and overall strong economic growth will continue — it warned that housing supply will continue to “undershoot demand” and that supply “remains the crucial issue”.