Housing target missed as the number of new homes built last year fell 6.7%

Figures fall significantly short of demand, targets and forecasts

There were 16,200 housing scheme homes completed last year, a rise of 4.6% from 2023.

The number of new homes built in Ireland last year fell by 6.7% compared to the number completed in 2023.

New figures from the CSO based on connections to the electricity network show there were 30,330 new dwelling completions in the whole of 2024, down on the 32,525 completed in 2023.

The drop was largely due to a 24.1% fall in the number of apartments completed. The number of one-off homes also fell by 2.2% to 5,367. The number of homes in housing schemes and estates rose by 4.6% to 16,200.

The drop in housing completions means the Government Housing for all target of 33,000 has been missed by a significant margin. That figure was generally viewed as a conservative estimate. The demand for new homes has been placed by various bodies at between 40,000 to 50,000 homes each year to resolve the ongoing shortage.

At the Béal na Bláth commemoration speech last August, then Taoiseach Simon Harris said: “This year, we will exceed our housing targets with almost 40,000 homes built.” 

He echoed this in the Dáil again in October, telling Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns: “We are in a situation now where we will see close to 40,000 homes delivered this year.”

The new Programme for Government published last week outlined a target of 300,000 new homes by 2030. 

Kate English, Chief Economist at Deloitte said achieving this target will now mean doubling the number of completions beginning this year.

"Apartment completions also dropped by nearly 25% in 2024 compared to 2023, and that’s where we’ll get real bulk and scale, so if we can’t get apartment numbers up, then it will be even more challenging to reach targets," she said.

Data published last week show the number of new homes that commenced construction last year rose to more than 60,000. However, many of these new starts were rushed by developers to avail of levy waivers and water charge rebates before they expired.

Speaking on the large reduction in completed apartments, Director of Housing and Planning at the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said: “In 2023, 11,000 apartments were completed and a lot of those apartments were funded by the international pension funds and real estate investment trusts who have since 2023 largely left the market for forward purchasing or forward funding.” “So today’s figures are not surprising when looking at the large fall off in apartment completions. It is indicative of the flight of international funds from Ireland over the last two years.” Noting the government’s housing targets, Mr O’Connell told the Irish Examiner: “The key barrier to increasing our residential housing figures is the supply of zoned and service land with planning permission which is under extreme constraints.

“We simply have not been investing sufficiently in infrastructure over the last ten years and we don’t have multiannual funding streams in places for the likes of Uisce Eireann.

“Also, most lands that were zoned and services have now been used up for housing and those that are left need considerable investment in terms of infrastructure, access to roads, bridges etc.

“We also have a significant increase in Uisce Eireann’s capital allocations. Until we see multiannual funding for cost rental schemes that have been initiated by the approved housing bodies, it will be very difficult to see the housing targets reached.” Looking forward, Mr O’Connell added: “There were 60,000 commencements last year. We do expect a significant increase in 2025, however, the pipeline for 2026 and beyond is cause for considerable concern due to the supply of zone and service land with planning permission.

If you look at the number of planning permissions for residential units in 2024, it is less than 8,500 units per quarter.”