Economics expert believes Ireland has a shortage of apartments, NOT a shortage of houses

A leading housing expert says we have a shortage of apartments in Ireland.

Ronan Lyons says we have plenty of houses but not enough apartments when compared to our population structure.

Other EU Countries have around 50% of their dwellings in apartments compared to just 12% in Ireland.

The Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College says supply and demand depends on the structure of the population.

Mr Lyons said: "We don't have a shortage of houses, we have a shortage of apartments.

"If you look at the number of families that we have in this country, families that are three, four or five person households - that's what the census would describe them as - and then you look at the number of dwellings we have that can fit three, four or five people, we actually have too many.

"We actually have a surplus of dwellings for families compared to the number of families that we have in this country. What we have a shortage of is apartments."