Irish housing completions fall to 30,300 in 2024

This morning’s CSO data shows a disappointing 8,732 newly built homes completed in Q4 2024, down 15% on the year. This surprise decline in Q4 was almost entirely due to volatile apartment completions, which could bounce-back, whereas house completions were flat. Housing starts data, 60,243 in 2024, paint a very different picture, pointing to a rapid expansion of activity in 2025. However, the starts data were artificially inflated by homebuilders rushing to avail of waivers on development levies. So it remains to be seen when these starts will translate into completions. For now, we are leaving our forecast for 42,500 housing completions in 2025 unchanged, whilst acknowledging the exceptional uncertainty around our projections.

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Bank of Ireland Economics Weekly 23rd January 2025