Lift in numbers of houses being built

TWO hundred residential buildings are currently under construction in County Wexford, according to the latest edition of GeoView published by GeoDirectory.

It shows that residential construction has increased nationally by 36 per cent year-on-year.

A total of 5,966 buildings were classified as being under construction in the GeoDirectory database in June 2017, compared with the June 2016 figure of 4,375. Dublin continues to account for the bulk of new construction activity, at just under 25 per cent of all buildings under construction.

The database found that there was a total of 1,967,698 residential dwellings across the country in June 2017. By cross referencing data from the 2016 CSO Census of Population, the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and the GeoDirectory Database, the GeoView report offers new, unique insights into the residential housing density, turnover and construction levels and the housing shortage across the country.

One of the reasons for the sharp increase in construction is the low number of vacant properties in the market. GeoDirectory report an estimated vacant stock of 96,243 (4.9% of the total stock) address points or dwellings in June 2017, while the 2016 Census reported a vacant stock of 183,312 (12.3%) dwellings, as of April 2016.

The 2016 Census enumerators, in identifying vacant dwellings, were instructed to look for signs that the dwelling was not occupied e.g. no furniture, no cars outside, junk mail accumulating or overgrown garden, and to find out from neighbours whether it was vacant or not. It was not sufficient to classify a dwelling as vacant after one or two visits.

Dublin (0.89% of the Dublin total stock) and the surrounding counties of Kildare (1.99%), Meath (3.35%), Wicklow (2.65%) and Louth (3.61%) had the lowest percentages of vacant units by county in the State.

The gulf between the housing market in Dublin and the rest of the country can be seen clearly when the average national property price is examined.

The national average house price for the year was €250,188, an increase of almost €23,739 since last year. When Dublin is removed from the figures, the national average property price falls to €175,782.

The average property price in Wexford was €153,439, an increase of €17,533 since June 2016.