John Fahey: Construction sector will struggle to match last year’s residential units

Latest forecast from the Central Bank of Ireland is that housing completions could fall to 27,000 units this year. Picture Denis Minihane.

A notable feature of the Irish housing market over the past 12 months has been a clear decelerating trend in the rate of increase in prices. 

This is against the backdrop of greater supply in 2022 and a rising interest rate environment. The most recent official CSO data showed that house prices nationally fell by 0.4% in February. This followed a 0.6% monthly fall in January.