Funding delays will lower number of houses built next year, says housing analyst

The programme for government promised accelerated home building to achieve 300,000 completions by 2030 or an average of 60,000 per annum.

The pausing and slowdown in house building due to funding delays will result in even less completions in 2025 than the 30,300 recorded last year, according to industry sources. 

The delays in approving funding for social and cost-rental homes, first reported in the Irish Examiner last month, have seen housing and apartment schemes stopped mid-construction. 

Projects in Dublin and Galway are now at a standstill because of the delays connected to a dispute between the departments of Public Expenditure and Housing. Up to 5,000 new homes are estimated to now have had their completion dates put back as a result of the funding problem.

A number of Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) have been waiting since last September for the funding approval for schemes that have assessed and given the go-ahead informally. These schemes, the cost rental equity loan (CREL) and the social housing capital advance leasing facility (CALF), form two of the main planks of the State delivery of housing. 

Last month, in response to the delays, the Cabinet approved an extra €450m in funding for both categories of housing but, the Irish Examiner understands, schemes that were awaiting the official funding approval have yet to receive letters of confirmation.

Housing analyst and architect Mel Reynolds believes the funding row allied to a lack of investment in apartment building in the private sector will depress completion rates for both 2025 and 2026. 

He said:

We will be lucky to hit 27,000 this year. 

“The biggest single fall-off last year was in private funding for apartment schemes and it looks like the only ones to be completed this year will be by the Land Development Agency or the AHBs. 

"Now you have the funding delay for the AHBs on top of that which will impact this year but also 2026. For the next two years it looks like it will be struck around or under 30,000.” 

The programme for government promised accelerated home building to achieve 300,000 completions by 2030 or an average of 60,000 per annum. Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said on Monday the reports on the delays are “utterly scandalous”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Housing said that project approvals are advanced as fast as possible in accordance with the terms and condition of schemes.

“We are not aware of any projects that have either paused or stopped work in the last month due to funding approval timelines.”