One of the country’s largest residential builders, Glenveagh has stated that it will sell 56 apartments in Dublin’s docklands to Dublin City Council for €22.06 million for social and affordable housing.

Glenveagh, the stockmarket-listed housebuilder, has predicted it will take four more years before new housing supply comes anywhere near catching up with demand, as it unveiled a major site acquisition in the Cork docklands for 1,000 new homes.

Glenveagh Properties has forecast prices of its newly built homes will rise 5% or 6% a year and the housebuilder has identified huge opportunities to acquire parts of €5bn in big-ticket land banks it believes will come on the market in the coming years.