Home completions slipped in Q2 – CSO
Official figures show that the number of new homes completed in the second quarter (Q2) of this year fell slightly compared with the same period last year, as fewer apartments were finished.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said that the 8,823 new homes completed in the period represented a drop of 3.6% compared with the same period last year.
The figures show a loss of momentum after a 33% annual increase to 7,856 in the first three months of the year – the highest Q1 number since the CSO began to compile the data in 2011.
Housing-scheme figure up
The Q2 drop was mainly down to apartment completions, which were down 12.2% from a year earlier to 2,658.
There were 4,738 housing-scheme completions – up 2% on the same period last year.
The number of single dwellings completed in Q2 dropped by 3.7% to 1,427.
More than half of completions (54%) in the three-month period were scheme dwellings, while 30% were apartments, and 16% were single homes.
Dublin drop
The number of new homes completed in the Dublin area fell by 16.4% compared with a year earlier.
The capital accounted for 36% of all homes completed in the period and more than three-quarters of all apartments. More than 91% of homes completed in Dublin were apartments.
The CSO figures are based on the number of domestic dwellings connected by the ESB network to the electricity supply, but the statistics office acknowledges that this overestimates the numbers and adjusts the data by using additional information from the ESB and other sources.