Housing construction jumps 40% in December with activity concentrated on Dublin and Cork
Home-building activity in Dublin and Cork accounted for almost 40% of all new residential units under construction in December.
Just under 15,000 residential buildings were under construction across the country last month, according to the latest GeoView Residential Buildings Report by GeoDirectory and EY-DKM
This represents a 38.3% increase compared when compared with the December 2018 figure.
The report shows that of 20,359 new homes added to the GeoDirectory database for the whole of 2019, more than half (52%) were in the Greater Dublin Area, with 4,154 homes under construction in Dublin in December, followed by 1,628 in Cork. Commuter-belt counties Kildare and Meath were next, with approximately 1,300 each.
It found counties with the lowest levels of construction activity were in the north-west and midlands: Leitrim (24), Longford (88), Roscommon (96) and Sligo (96).
Unsurprisingly, given the population density, Dublin remains the county with the lowest residential vacancy rate at 1.3%, well below the national average of 4.7%.
Cork and Waterford were the only two counties outside of Leinster with vacancy rates lower than the national average, at 4% and 3.5% respectively.
The report took a decade-long look at property prices and found the average residential property price increased by 14% between 2010 and 2019 (€257,780 to €294,800). The number of properties selling for greater than €1 million increased from 186 in 2010 to 751 in 2019 (this figure may include sales of multiple units sold as a single lot).
The report points out that large-scale infrastructure projects have also had an impact on property prices over the last ten years.
“For example, residential properties located along the Luas Green Line extension (St. Stephen’s Green to Broombridge) have seen average property prices increase by 77% since 2010.”
The report notes there were 57,163 residential transactions in the 12 months to October 2019, an increase of 6.8% on the 2018 figure The highest average property price in the third quarter of 2019 was in Dublin (€420,316), while Leitrim (€121,410) had the lowest average price.
However, in Dublin City, residential property prices declined by 3.3% in the 12 months to October, to €434,330. Property prices rose by 14.0% and 12.2% in the cities of Limerick and Cork respectively.
Dara Keogh, Chief Executive, GeoDirectory said Dublin and its surrounding counties “continue to drive the residential property market and this trend shows no sign of slowing down”.
“In 2019, the Greater Dublin Area of Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow had the most buildings under construction, the most new address points and the lowest average residential vacancy rates, while counties in Connacht and Ulster continue to lag way behind in terms of activity,” Mr Keogh said.
The figure GeoView differs from official Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG) statistics which show a total of 26,106 dwellings were commenced in the 12 months to September 2019.
The GeoView Report attributes the discrepancy to “some double counting” and says industry sources suggest the overstatement in the DHPLG data “could be in the region of 15 to 20 per cent”.
It adds the caveat that the GeoDirectory measurement is “at a point in time” while the government data is over a 12 month period.
