Reduction in ‘unfinished developments’ in Kerry

KERRY saw a reduction of 35.5% in the number of developments that remain unfinished under the Government’s ‘Unfinished Housing Development’ report (UFHD) published towards the end of March.

The reduction means that around 11 properties have now been ‘substantially development’ and are fully active to be removed from the unfinished housing development database. While the figures are in no way indicative of a solution to the ongoing problem of supply meeting demand, any upward improvement is welcome.

However, Kerry still has 20 developments that remain unfinished (compared with 120 developments surveyed in 2013). Kerry, along with 4 other local authorities, will be working with the Department to increase the numbers of resolved developments and reduce their numbers in the year ahead.

The figures were released as part of the Government’s 2017 ‘Progress Report on Actions to Address Unfinished Housing Developments’ across the country. The report also revealed that there are currently 49 Vacant Units per 1000 households in the county from an overall total of 54,493 households countywide.

No NAMA listed sites or properties in Kerry have been identified or assessed under the report since 2016. But of the 31 ‘sites’ surveyed in Kerry in 2017, only 2 were described as ‘active’.

Speaking about the report, the Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Damien English said the report revealed a 91% reduction in unfinished developments since 2010 - a decrease from almost 3,000 to 256 houses.

“Local authorities and on-the-ground teams have excellent local knowledge and have signaled that a number of sites with ‘unfinished’ elements are now coming back in for new planning permission,” said the Minister.

“In a number of cases this was at pre-planning stage and throughout 2018 should move on to the determination of planning applications clearing the way for development subject to developer capacity, funding and demand,” he added.