New figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show there was a 3% fall in the number of one-off houses completed in quarter two (Q2) this year compared to the same period last year.
Overall there were a total 6,884 new dwellings completed over Q2 2024 – which represents a fall of 5.4% on the same three months of 2023.
The number of number of single dwellings – one off houses – completed in Q2 this year was 1,369 this year, down from 1,411 in Q2 2023 .
The latest CSO figures also highlight that more than half (57.4%) of all new dwellings completed in Q2 this year were scheme dwellings – house that are part of a multi-unit development – while apartments accounted for 22.7% of completions but just 19.9% were single dwellings.
Steven Conroy, statistician, with the CSO, said that in the first half of 2024 there were 12,730 new dwelling completions.
“This is a 8.6% decrease on the same period of 2023, 13,923 completion,” he added.
CSO
According to the CSO there was also a year on year comparative decrease from Q2 2023 to Q2 2024 in completions of dwellings across four of the eight regions in Ireland.
The largest relative decrease in completions, down by 19.4%, was in the mid-east – Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow – while Dublin saw the second largest decrease with a slump of 10.6% in completions.
However dwelling completions rose by 46.2% in the mid-west – Clare, Limerick, Tipperary – and by 18.2% in the south-east, including Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford.
There was also a 3.2% jump in the completion of dwellings in the Midlands – Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath – and a very slight 0.4% increase in the west covering Galway City and Galway County, Mayo and Roscommon.
Rural housing
The latest CSO figures come as updated rural housing guidelines, published by the Government, are currently subject to a legal review by the Attorney General according to the Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform has confirmed.
Minister Malcolm Noonan told the Seanad earlier this month that the “intention is to support rural communities and provide rural housing based on local need, be it social or economic”.
But he added that the challenge is “that over the past 20 or 30 years, we have seen an awful lot of urban-generated rural housing”.
“People are building houses in the countryside and not contributing to the local schools but instead ferrying their children into schools in the urban areas.
“They are not contributing to local GAA clubs or communities. It is critical to get the rural housing guidelines right,” Minister Noonan added.