As Ireland’s housing market shows signs of recovery, homebuilding efforts are ramping up with ambitious targets for the coming years, but what role have self-builders played in 2024?
In this article we cover:
- House completions in 2024 according to latest reports
- How many more we need to keep up with demand
- The role self-builders are playing in housing in Ireland
- Ireland’s leading role in housing completions per capita
Stockbroker Davy’s research is estimating that 34,000 homes will be completed in Ireland in 2024, just a little more than the 32,695 finished in 2023, reports RTÉ.
But the stockbroker is looking ahead with optimism, predicting that we’ll see 42,000 new homes in 2025 and a huge jump to 50,000 in 2026.
This isn’t happening out of nowhere – there’s been a lot of action in housing starts, with over 59,000 homes getting underway in the year up to October 2024.
Many of these are apartments, which naturally take longer to complete, so we’ll likely see the full impact of these starts in the next couple of years.
The role of self-builds
While big developers and social housing schemes often get the headlines, self-builders are quietly making a significant mark.
Showing that individual homeowners are playing a role in boosting housing supply is a recent report from the Central Bank of Ireland which revealed that one-off self-builds made up about 17 per cent of all housing completions in 2023, which adds up to roughly 5,500 homes.
These were mostly funded through €1.7 billion in private mortgages and savings.
To put that in perspective, private developments accounted for around 19,000 homes and required €5.9 billion in financing, while social housing contributed 8,000 units.
Even with these promising numbers, the housing market is still playing catch-up. The Construction Industry Federation says ROI needs more than 60,000 homes a year to keep up with growing demand, driven by population increases and a long backlog from years of underbuilding.
Leading Europe in housing growth
Ireland is leading Europe when it comes to housing completions per capita. According to EY-Euroconstruct, Ireland is on track to build 5.9 homes per 1,000 people this year — 80 per cent higher than the European average.
And it doesn’t stop there. EY predicts that completions will rise to 38,000 in 2025 and 40,000 in 2026, keeping Ireland well ahead of its peers.
Driving strong performance is a combination of government policies to speed up building and cut costs, a shift in focus from commercial to residential construction and more stable financing conditions.
