Increase in the Purchase of New Build Homes

A report issued by estate agents Daft shows that demand for housing in Ireland has increased by 17% compared to this time last year. Daft’s findings show that demand for homes rose in 18 of the 26 counties in Ireland.

New Build Properties

The increase stems primarily from the increase in demand for new build properties, which rose by 114% compared to this time last year.

New homes within the price bracket of €400,000.00 - €500,000.00 saw a surge in demand of 1,783%. The report suggests that the main reason why demand has grown for new builds within this price bracket is due to first time buyers making use of the help-to-buy scheme. To qualify for this scheme, the applicants must be first time buyers, purchasing a property that they intend to live in which does not exceed €500,000.00. More information about the scheme and the qualifying criteria can be found here.  

Meanwhile, Daft's report shows that new builds valued between €600,000.00 - €800,000.00 recorded a growth of 251%.

Although the increase in demand for new builds is positive, the Central Statistics Office published a report on 1 June 2023 indicating that the volume of production of houses in construction was still down by over 13% when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Regional Breakdown

Specifically, the report shows that Connacht – Ulster saw the strongest growth for new homes at 110%, followed by Leinster at 75% and Munster at 69%.

Concluding remarks

Currently this increase in demand is not matched by the level of production in the construction industry. The report acknowledges that “the Irish housing market is still in desperate need of increased supply over years and indeed decades to come.” It must also be assessed whether Ireland's production rate, which is not even meeting the current demand for housing, can be maintained as the construction industry have reported a rise in the cost of building materials and the cost of labour in its most recent report. This report can be found here.

Written by Breen Purcell and Craig Byrne.