Outlook more positive for builders
WEXFORD businessman Anthony Neville, who was recently elected Chairman of the Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA), says there are signs of increasing demand spreading out from Dublin to counties Wexford and Wicklow, which is encouraging news for the house building industry.
Anthony Neville was appointed following a unanimous agreement at the recent IHBA AGM at Construction Industry Federation HQ in Dublin.
He served as IHBA Vice-chairman under the outgoing Chairman, Hugh O’Neill, for the past two years, and has now been elected Chairman for 2017 and 2018. As a member of the CIF South Eastern Branch, he has a unique understanding of the issues facing homebuilders in both provincial and urban areas.
‘I am a provincial house builder who also works in Dublin, so I am in a good position to represent our members across Ireland and I am deeply aware of the varying issues facing members working in these areas,’ he said. ‘Overall however, the cost of building is a major issue across the board and is having a huge effect on our members’ ability to deliver much needed homes.
‘We have seen in some areas of provincial Ireland that house building has recommenced again (but) this is only in areas where the sales price of houses has exceeded the construction costs, therefore creating a margin that makes it viable for the homebuilders to secure finance from their financial institutions and build much required homes.’
He said Anthony Neville Homes, have been lucky over the last number of years to have had exposure to the greater Dublin area on its sites in Maynooth, Kinsealy and Saggart, where there has been continuous demand.
‘However, over the last 12 months we have noticed the increase in demand spreading down through Wicklow to our site at Baltinglass and hopefully we will be recommencing construction at one of our Enniscorthy sites.
‘Members of the IHBA have experienced increased demand in places such as Gorey, Kilkenny, Portlaoise and Tullamore, so whilst the recovery is taking a lot longer than we had hoped, it is spreading gradually further away from Dublin.’
‘My immediate short term goal is to re-engage the homebuilders of Ireland with the IHBA/CIF, as after the downturn faced from 2008, keeping up to date with the IHBA, and their membership.. was, I believe, one of the furthermost thoughts in the heads of many of our members, as survival was the key for the first 5- 6 years of the deeply felt recession.
‘However, we do believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel now and we will need to work together as a group to tackle the very many and sizeable challenges and obstacles that are in our way in order to return to producing the required number of housing units per year.’