Over 30,000 homes a year needed: economist

IRELAND needs to build over 30,000 new homes per year to meet the needs of our growing population, a leading economist told a national housing conference in Dublin yesterday.

Marian Finnegan, who is with the property company Sherry Fitzgerald, broke down the demands for new homes as follows: 26,000 per annum during the period 2012 to 2016; 34,000 per annum between 2017 and 2021 and 31,000 per annum between 2022 and 2026.

John O’Connor, the chief executive of the state-run Housing Agency, warned that if we repeat the cycle of extremely low housing output and do not match output to population growth it will lead to a “pent-up demand” in years to come.