EU ‘not sure why building boom is absent’

New housing as a result of a recovery in the construction industry was expected to be fuelling Ireland’s economy by now, but this is not happening, the EU has admitted in its winter economic forecast.

There is a demand for housing, said the six-monthly report, which put the dearth of building down to “supply constraints that are proving difficult to address”.

A construction rebound should be visible in economies that have experienced a pre-crisis housing boom but were hard hit by the financial crisis, such as Ireland and Spain.