Some 11,550 housing units are currently under construction in Ireland, with another 12,388 having received planning permission in the first nine months of this year, according to data compiled by Construction Information Services (CIS). This marks a significant acceleration in housebuilding this year, although it still remains substantially below the forecast demand for 25,000 units a year.
According to CIS, which monitors activity in all areas of the construction sector here, some 9,000 houses or apartments went on site in the first nine months of this year as part of multi-unit developments. This represented an increase of 25 per cent on the same period of 2015.
Some 4,716 units went on site in Dublin, with another 1,400 in Munster. In addition, about 2,550 one-off houses have been started since January.
The value of these residential projects rose 34 per cent to €1.3 billion, with more than €800 million worth of development under way in Dublin.
CIS’s latest review also notes that the value of projects granted planning permission in the first nine months of 2016 rose 45 per cent to €8 billion. Some 3,000 major projects were granted planning in the first half of this year, up from about 2,100 in the corresponding period of 2015.
Dublin accounted for 53 per cent of this value, with the rest of Leinster and Munster representing a combined 35 per cent.
New projects
CIS said more than 5,000 new projects have been submitted for planning, an increase of 500 on last year. The largest volume of projects is in Munster, with more than 1,600 submissions for planning approval. About 650 of these are in the agriculture sector.
More than €6 billion worth of projects went on site between January and September, a year-on-year increase of 39 per cent.
All regions of the State showed volume and value growth except Connacht. Dublin accounted for just under half of these with almost €3 billion of projects.
Tom Moloney, managing director of CIS, said the figures demonstrated that the construction sector was a "key pillar" in the State's economic improvement.
He said the management of growth in construction depended on a continued focus on the availability of skilled workers, the provision of finance to fund private sector projects, the removal of unnecessary delays in delivering on the housing plans, the capacity of large contractors to deliver projects, tender price inflation, and contingency planning for any potential impacts from Brexit.
