32,695 houses built last year... but it’s not enough

Taoiseach admits Government must ‘do better, and better again’

A TOTAL of 32,695 new homes were completed last year, exceeding the target of 29,000 set out in the Government’s housing plan.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said this was the highest number of homes built in Ireland since 2008, but added that the Government needs to ‘do better’ this year and ‘better again’ next year.

He said that in 2011 fewer than 7,000 houses had been built.

‘The housing deficit remains very big, we have a rising population and ever smaller household sizes. So we need more homes and we need them built as soon as possible. But we can only do that so quickly,’ Mr Varadkar said.

‘The increase in supply that we’re seeing in Ireland was not a foregone conclusion.’

Figures in the Housing for All update published yesterday show construction had begun on 32,800 new homes last year, up 22% on 2022. More than 3,000 vacant property refurbishment grant applications were approved in 2023, and construction had begun on over 2,000 new homes on State land sites in December of last year.

‘Of course, I’m very aware that for a lot of people, none of this good news matters,’ Mr Varadkar said, adding that ‘far too many people are paying rents that are far too high for far too long’.

The number of social and affordable houses built in 2023 has not yet been calculated. The Government had set out to build 9,100 social homes and 5,500 affordable and cost-rental homes in 2023.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said they would deliver ‘significantly more than we did in 2022’ in relation to social and affordable housing new builds, ‘particularly on the affordable side’. He said the number of options and supports available to people were ‘unprecedented’, adding that there was ‘no evidence whatsoever of there being an inflationary (effect from) the Help to Buy grant’.

Mr O’Brien said that when the First Home Scheme was launched, people said it could be ‘a second mortgage, yet ‘none of that is true’. He added: ‘In my own area in Lusk we’re selling homes from €166,000. If you asked me three years ago if homes were being sold at €166,000 in Lusk, before Housing for All, people would have thought you were mad.’

Asked about homelessness, Mr O’Brien said he expects a decrease in the Department of Housing figures to be published today, but added that that is nothing to be ‘complacent’ about.

He said: ‘What’s important is we continue to increase that supply of public housing so that we can exit people from emergency accommodation quicker into safe and secure homes.

‘That is our number-one priority in this space.’

Asked about the bulk purchasing of properties after the Business Post reported that Ryanair had bought 25 homes for its staff in a Dublin estate, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Mr O’Brien said ‘a small percentage’ of homes are being bought in this way.

Mr Martin said: ‘What we’re seeing now is a small percentage – 25 homes in Swords, it is a very, very large estate with thousands of homes ,and this is 25 of that – we’ve seen a legacy issue where some properties, where permissions were granted before that. In this instance I understand Ryanair have bought those properties for their staff to deliver affordable housing for them. The 10% additional stamp duty or stamp duty rate will still apply to them.’

Mr Martin said there is a ‘false perception’ that vulture funds are bulk-buying housing estates across the country.

He added: ‘It is not our position that we want housing estates bought up by funds or institutions, but demonstrably, if you look at the figures, I mean there’s 30,500 first-time buyer mortgage approvals last year, that is real evidence of the overall picture.’

‘Continue to increase supply’