Water issue ‘sees 4% fewer homes going to market’

HOME buyers are being delayed moving into new houses due to hold-ups in properties being connected to the electricity and water supply, a new report claims.

The number of new homes released for sale last year was 4% lower than 2018.

However, this is not because of reduced demand, which remains strong, but instead due to problems in releasing newly built homes on to the market.

The Sherry Fitzgerald report says: ‘There were in and around 6,200 new home closings in Ireland between January and September 2019, 4% less than in the comparable period in 2018.

‘In Dublin, there was a 20% drop in closings year-on-year. Rather than a reduction in demand, this appears to be a utility connection issue.’

Property Industry Ireland director David Duffy said houses cannot go into the market until they have their utility connection.

‘It’s disappointing that at times when we need to get completions into the market that something like a utility connection is delaying that,’ he said.

‘Water is particularly an issue in Dublin. I have heard of houses being completed but not being able to be released because they can’t get the water connection.

‘Not only is it causing delays in the occupancy, it may well be causing a slowdown in activity as developers wait to sell houses so they can move onto the next project,’ Mr Duffy added.

A spokesman for the ESB said: ‘ESB Networks continues to meet growing demand for electricity connections for new domestic builds, which includes housing schemes, apartment blocks and one-off rural homes.

‘Over 30,000 new connections – of which 25,427 were domestic connections – were delivered over the course of the year, a 12% increase on 2018.

‘ESB Networks has seen sustained growth over the past six years, with figures for new connections doubling since 2014.’

Irish Water was contacted but did not comment.