Report shows upturn in construction activity in 2019

FIGURES contained within a new report have shown that 2,146 new addresses were added to Cork’s stock of residential buildings over the 12-month period to October 2019.

The number, second only to Dublin county, accounted for 10.5% of the total stock of new addresses registered across the country during the year and represented a 0.6% increase on the figure for the previous year.

The figures, contained within the latests GeoView Residential Buildings Report published by GeoDirectory, also showed there were 1,628 properties under construction across Cork as 2019 drew to a close compared to 1,020 at the same time in 2018.

The full report, which is available to view at www.geodirectory.ie, was established jointly by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland to create and manage the country’s only database of commercial and residential buildings.

It showed that 6,229 property transactions took place in Cork to October 2019 (up from 5,403 over the previous 12-months), 19.9% of which were new dwellings (up from 17.4%), with the average property price in Cork standing at €265,596.

While this represented an increase of €17,234 on the corresponding figure for the previous year, it was considerably lower than the increase of €27,465 experienced between 2017 and 2018.

The October 2019 property price in Cork was below the national average of €290,209. Although, if you were to remove Dublin (where the average house price is a whopping €420,316), this figure drops dramatically to €221,738.

An analysis of the property prices over the past decade contained within the report showed the average residential property price in Cork had increased by 11% between 2009 and 2019.

The report showed that, as of December 2019, the average vacancy rate for Cork stood at 4% (0.2% lower than in 2018) and 0.7% lower than the national figure 4.7%, which itself was 0.1% lower than 12-months previously.

Contained within the report were figures for specific Eircode areas across Cork, details of which can be seen in the attached panel.

They showed that once again Kinsale was the town in Cork with the highest residential property price at €452,174, with Charleville remaining the lowest at €138,095.

Interestingly, Mallow recorded the highest level of activity in Cork over the 12-month period, with 527 transactions (5.1% of which were new dwellings), 170 ahead of Midleton which came second on the list.

Nationally, the report showed the total stock of residential dwellings stood at 2,014,357, with 57,163 transactions taking place over the 12-month period.

Overall, the report concluded the GeoDirectory database showed continued growth in new construction activity, with a total of 14,490 buildings being classified as ‘under construction’ in December, an increase of 38.3% on the figure of 10,836 in December 2018. However, this increase is lower than the 45% experienced between 2018 and 2018.

It found that 20,359 new dwellings were added to the database in the 12-months to December 2018, representing 1% of total stock. Just over onethird of these were in Dublin, with Cork accounting for 1 10.5% of total new stock.

Annette Hughes, the director of EY-DKM Economic Advisory Services said the latest findings confirmed the construction industry was responding positively to the challenge of meeting house demand, with one-fifth of all residential transactions over the 12-months to October 2019 involving a newly built building.

However, she said that while it was encouraging for the residential property market, it was “well below where it needs to be”.

“Just over 14,000 residential buildings were under construction nationally in December 2019. While this is an improvement on previous years, it is still well below the required supply levels,” she said.