In 2021 there were 5,301 commencement notices for one-off houses in ROI, statistics from the Building Control Management System show.

Cork continues to be the most active county, followed by Galway.

In 2020 the figure stood at 4,415 due to the pandemic, with a significant drop in April and May.

The figure for 2021 (Jan-Dec) is higher than the same period in 2019.

2019 finished at 5,089 active self-builds.

Meanwhile in NI the statistics are a bit more muddled as they mix private owner and speculative development in the same category.

Still, the figures are promising with a total of 3,860 new dwelling starts in the first half of 2021 (Jan-Jun). That’s a 60 per cent jump on 2020 and a 19 per cent jump on 2019.

Detached new build home registrations reach highest level since 2003, according to the National House Building Council (NHBC). Some 52,190 detached homes were registered in 2021 – marking
the highest total since 2003 when there were 52,534 detached home registrations.

New registrations in NI and Isle of Man stood at 3,674, representing a 28 per cent increase. The trend for people wanting bigger houses which would help them work from home was reflected in the 47 per
cent increase in detached home registrations, said the NHBC.

Homes are registered with the NHBC before being built – so its figures are an indicator of the housing stock in the pipeline. The body has a 70 to 80 per cent share of the UK warranty market, it says.

Private sector registrations were a key driver behind the increase in last year’s new home registrations, rising by 42 per cent annually in 2021. The number of new homes being completed in 2021 was also up by 21 per cent compared with the previous year, the NHBC said.

In ROI, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien indicated he believed supply and demand would meet some time in 2024.

House prices in ROI are expected to continue to rise in 2022, with supply lagging behind demand.

Planning permissions on upward trend

2021 was a bumper year for self-builders in ROI, with 7,499 planning permissions granted for one off houses.

That was up 41.7 per cent on the previous year and the highest since 2009, the Central Statistics Office reports.

The total number of planning permission approvals granted for all developments in Q4 2021 was 7,222 compared with 7,017 in Q4 2020, an increase of 2.9 per cent. Of this, 32.6 per cent of permissions were for new dwellings, 27.1 per cent for other new constructions and 40.3 per cent for extensions, alterations & conversions.

In NI, meanwhile, the latest statistics refer to the June-September 2021 and don’t show a major increase from the same period last year. Single dwellings in rural areas (659) and alterations/extensions
in urban areas (514) remained the most common types of residential applications received.