New home completions up almost 33% in first quarter

Today's CSO figures show there was an increase in completions in all regions of Ireland with the border region showing a 58% rise.

Nearly 90% of housing schemes completed were in cities, satellite urban towns or rural areas with a high urban influence.

Minister for Housing James Browne has said there is a real sense of momentum in house building now however the government "won't be taking the foot of the pedal".

Welcoming today's CSO statistics, Minister Browne acknowledged there is more to do but these figures show a positive start to the year.

"We think adverse weather conditions, especially in February which saw an unusually high level of rainfall, explains the lower-than-expected figures, with one of the wettest Februarys on record," the economist said.

Kevin Timoney said that after a weak first quarter result last year, the level of apartments built increased 33% to 2,355, while houses grew by a similarly strong rate to 5,501.

Davy had forecast 6,700 houses and just under 3,000 apartment completions.

"However, we continue to see a strong pipeline of new housing delivery this year and next, still supported by a high level of commencements in 2024 and subsequent policy efforts to address infrastructure shortfalls along with bottlenecks in housing delivery, including those related to delivery costs," he added.