Latest news with #homecompletions
Irish Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on the latest moves on housing: recognise there are no quick fixes
It comes as no surprise that the Economic and Social Research Institute is predicting that the number of home completions this year will rise only modestly to 34,000, from just over 30,300 last year. The Minister for Housing, James Browne, was forced to concede yesterday that reaching the target of 41,000 for this year would be very challenging. And to meet the Government target of 303,000 houses between 2025 and 2030, further sharp increases would be needed in subsequent years. The Government will be all too aware of the 'Groundhog Day' nature of the housing debate , with targets consistently being missed. The Opposition parties are trying to take advantage by organising a day of protest next month – it remains to be seen what proposals they will put forward. The Government is exposed here because of the failure of the previous administration and the denial of reality in the general election campaign, when outgoing ministers insisted that close to 40,000 homes would be built last year. In addressing all this, the Government needs to accept that there are no quick fixes. Tinkering around with policy is at best pointless and at worst counter-productive. Longer-term solutions are the ones that count and the Government needs to get on with these if it is to see any meaningful results during its term. READ MORE In this context, the move by the housing minister to extend the terms for which planning permissions apply in some cases seems sensible. At the moment developers can 'time out' if hit with lengthy judicial review proceedings and have to reapply. Offering planning permissions extensions in some cases should help in terms of encouraging development and could be particularly helpful for apartment projects. It will provide some more certainty in the process. Opposition complaints that it will encourage land hoarding need to be taken into account. The Residential Zoned Land Tax, due to encourage landowners to develop housing on land zoned for this purpose, is finally being introduced, even if it may need to be better focused to achieve the desired result. Both carrot and stick, in other words, are needed. Penalties, as well as incentives, need to be kept under review. There are other problems in planning and viability which also need to be addressed, as well as the contentious issue of rent pressure zones. In tackling these, the Government needs to continue to build certainty for developers, as well as protecting renters and giving hope to potential buyers. It is not an easy balance to strike. State intervention, through a host of routes, is already enormous, but if the core issues of planning, utility provision and viability are not solved, then spending will not achieve the desired results. The Government will not want to go back to basics, but really it has no choice.
Irish Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Home completions must ‘accelerate significantly' if housing targets are to be met, department warns
The number of homes being completed will have to rise substantially for the remainder of the year if the Government is to have any hope of meeting its annual target of 41,000 units, the latest housing update has warned. It also cautioned that a fall-off last year in planning permissions presented a possible medium-term risk for housing output. There were 5,938 new home completions in the first three months of the year, a rise of 2 per cent on the same period in 2024, the Department of Housing's monthly housing update said. While there has been a slight rise, the department's assessment was that home completions for the first three months of the year were broadly in line with the same period last year. In all, 30,330 dwellings were completed during 2024. This annual figure represented a 6.7 per cent decrease on 2023 and was well short of the target of 40,000. READ MORE 'Home completions ... will have to accelerate significantly through the year to move toward the target of 41,000 units for 2025,' the department said in its latest assessment. Looking at the 12 months ending on March 31st this year, the update noted there was a 4.2 per cent drop in home completions in comparison to the previous 12-month period. The biggest factor behind this was a substantial reduction in the number of apartments completed. There were 8,920 finished, a 17 per cent year-on-year decrease. The fall-off in apartment building was also reflected in planning permissions for the final three months of last year. There had been more than 6,000 in the last three months of 2023 compared to 2,922 in the same period in 2024. 'A large fall-off in applications for apartments dragged annual aggregate figures lower, reflecting ongoing regulatory and viability challenges for the private rented sector. It is important that the Government continues to address these obstacles in the short-term,' the update report stated. However, the assessment does identify some potentially positive trends. It notes a substantial increase in commencement notices registered in April last year in response to deadlines for state incentives to accelerate supply through waivers and rebates. 'Projects associated with the surge in commencement notices in April 2024 should become apparent in completions data from Q2 [April to June] this year, if the timing from commencement notice to completion is consistent with the historic lag between the series,' the report stated. The update put annual property price inflation at 8 per cent in February. In Dublin, the median price for a home was €475,000, a rise of 6.7 per cent in a year. There was also an increase of more than 10 per cent in the number of new mortgages being drawn down, with 9,190 in total, almost 60 per cent of which went to first-time buyers. The wholesale price of construction was up 1 per cent in March compared to the same time a year ago.
