Apartments and planning delays

Sir, – Repeated reports from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland and the government have pointed to a viability problem with apartment delivery. Permissions for approximately 90 per cent of the uncommenced units in Dublin were apartments. As one report by the Department of Finance said, “the scale of the aggregate problem, the proportion of apartment development in the figures, the repeated assertions by industry and, most importantly, the data, all point to a structural problem with the viability of high-density development.”

While planning delays are not entirely to blame for the viability challenge, they play a significant role. Equally important to the number of permissions made is the speed with which permissions are granted. The Department of Finance has highlighted the risk to the viability of projects – especially those involving apartments – due to delays. A two-year delay can reduce the equity return of a project by 50 per cent. While there is a healthy supply of permissions, the evidence suggests that many of these projects are made unviable by delays, uncertainty, and high construction costs. – Yours, etc,

SEÁN O’NEILL McPARTLIN,

Director of Housing Policy,