Fear shortfall of surveyors will impact Ireland's housing and construction output

Room at the table for 1,100 more surveyors by 2026, the mammoth 'Burlo' gathering of 1,300 SCSI diners hears

Food for thought: some of the 1,300 members and guests attending the SCSI Annual Dinner at the Clayton Burlington Hotel. The survveying professional  body forecasts a shortage of 1,100  surveyors by 2026.

THE expected shortfall of surveyors for the property, construction and estate agency professions could have been graphically illustrated at last week’s packed-out, knees-up annual dinner of 1,300 members and guests of the Society of Chartered Surveyors at the Dublin Burlington Hotel.

The enormous attendance at the black tie gig -  traditionally the largest social/profession gathering in the country - closely parallels the expected personnel shortage in the construction sector’s surveying professions: it’s put at 1,100 or more, by 2026.

SCSI president Kevin James, SCSI CEO Shirley Coulter, Paul McDonnell head of Property Finance at event sponsor Bank of Ireland, with comedian and guest speaker Colm O’Regan.

The SCSI forecasts that almost 3,000 surveyor positions will be created across the profession between 2023 and 2026 if economy grows by 4% per annum.

However, based on current figures, the country faces a shortfall of almost 1,100 surveyors over that timeframe and the body warns “this is a conservative estimate; the shortage of qualified graduates will put further pressure on the country’s ability to address the housing crisis.”

The SCS represents surveyors in land, construction and property fields, including estate agents: a shortfall of up to 500 estate agents and property managers is forecast in the same timeframe.

The just-released SCSI Employment, Remuneration and Workplace Report for 2023 also showed that the median salary of a surveyor is just over €77,000 (€80,000 in Dublin, national median €69k exc Dublin) up 10% from 2019, with the higher rates in construction, ahead of property (€70k) and land (€64k.)

SCSI President Kevin James, said the figures showed the urgent need to ramp up the enrolment of surveyors in third level colleges and to develop additional pathways to the profession, including through apprenticeships.

“Solving our housing supply crisis and achieving our targets with regard to the Climate Action Plan and the National Development Plan will require sufficient numbers of qualified graduates coming into the surveying profession.”

“ We know the construction sector is facing shortages of skilled workers, but this survey puts numbers on the scale of those shortages from a surveying perspective.”

“It is very likely that the Housing for All targets will undergo significant upward revision in the coming weeks....it is likely that the estimates of future employment demand are conservative,” he added.

DETAILS: www.scsi.ie