Slowdown in rate of decline in number of new buildings

A total of 7,330 new residential and commercial buildings were identified across the country in the first six months of 2011, according to figures released today by GeoDirectory.

The number represents a year-on-year decrease of 10% compared to the same period in 2010, when 8,119 buildings were added to the database. However, the decrease is substantially smaller than the 40%, 49% and 57% drops recorded in 2010, 2009 and 2008 respectively.

Several counties mainly in the East and South-East (Carlow, Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wicklow) even bucked the overall national and showed increases in new building additions compared to the same period in 2010.

The average increase in new building activity in these counties, compared to the same period in 2010, was 41% with the largest increase of 80% recorded in Meath, where 182 new buildings were identified.

GeoDirectory, a subsidiary of An Post, working with Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) manages Ireland’s only complete database of residential and commercial buildings. The figures were recorded by 5,600 An Post delivery staff working with experts from OSi.

Of the 7,330 new buildings, 6,221 were residential buildings, 932 were commercial buildings, and 177 were dual-purpose buildings with both residential and commercial components.

Leitrim showed the largest decrease in new building additions with a 68% drop compared to 2010, and also recorded the smallest increase in new buildings, with just 30 new buildings identified.

While showing a year-on-year decrease of 34% in new building additions, Cork City and County recorded the largest number of additions for the first six months of 2011, with 825 new buildings identified.

The new additions in 2011 bring the total number of buildings in the Republic of Ireland to 1,883,474

Commenting on the new figures, GeoDirectory CEO, Dara Keogh said: “There has been a downward trend in building activity in recent years following a peak in the first half of 2007 when 60,781 new buildings were added to the GeoDirectory database.

“Since then, the number of additions to the database each year has fallen, to 7,330 in the first half of 2011. That’s a drop of 88% over the last four years.

“However, the rate of decline has reduced significantly to just 10% this year and increases in new builds have in fact been recorded in several counties in the first half of 2011.”

GeoDirectory will release the figure for the total number of new buildings added to its database during 2011 in January 2012.