Residential Construction up 55 per cent on June 2017 Levels
GeoView Residential Buildings Report Highlights:
- The national average turnover rate was 2.6 per cent in the year to April 2018, while the national average house price stood at €273,206
- 19,680 residential addresses added to GeoDirectory database in 12 months to June 2018
- 52,520 residential properties were purchased in the 12 months to April 2018
- The national residential vacancy rate is 4.8 per cent with 21 out of 26 counties experiencing year-on-year declines in vacancy rates
- 9,251 buildings were classified as being under construction in June 2018, two-thirds of which were in Leinster
- Donegal had the highest proportion of its stock classified as holiday homes at 11.4 per cent
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Overview
Construction Activity
The twelve months to June 2018 saw a considerable rise in residential construction activity according to figures from the latest GeoView Residential Buildings Report, published by GeoDirectory today. In total, 9,251 buildings were classified as being under construction, representing a 55 per cent increase on June 2017 levels.
The majority of construction activity took place in urban areas, with the highest levels recorded in Dublin (34.9%), Cork (10.7%) and Meath (10.5%). Construction activity was particularly low in the counties of Leitrim (0.2%), Longford (0.3%) and Offaly (0.5%)
New Additions
The report found that 19,680 residential addresses were added to the GeoDirectory database since June 2017. Over two-thirds of these dwellings are located in the Leinster region, with Dublin accounting for 39.8 per cent of the overall total, highlighting an east/west divide in terms of new addresses. On the other end of the scale, Longford and Leitrim were the only two counties to record fewer than 100 new residential addresses, registering only 66 and 87 new addresses respectively.
National Vacancy Rates
The average vacancy rate stands at 4.8 per cent, a marginal drop of 0.1 percentage points on the same period last year. That said, 21 out of 26 counties experienced a decline in residential vacancy rates, with Longford registering the largest decline (-0.8 percentage points). Leitrim registered the highest residential vacancy rate in the country at 15.9 per cent. Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow recorded the lowest percentages of vacant units in the country, at rates between 0.9 and 3.5 per cent.
Breakdown of Housing Stock
The report shows that there were 1,983,715 residential dwellings in Ireland in June 2018. Out of this total, detached dwellings accounted for the largest share at 34.8 per cent, followed by terraced dwellings (27.6%) and semi-detached dwellings (24.3%). There are 180,741 apartments in the country, representing 9.1 per cent of the overall total.
Donegal is the county with the highest proportion of holiday homes at 11.4 per cent, followed by Wexford (7.7%), Kerry (7.1%) and Clare (6.7%).
Residential Turnover Rate and Transactions
By combining data from the GeoDirectory database and the CSO, the GeoView Residential Buildings Report estimates the average rate of housing turnover. The national average housing turnover rate was 2.6 per cent in the twelve months to April 2018. Dublin, and its surrounding counties, recorded the highest stock turnover, with above average rates in Kildare (3.41%), Dublin (3.37%), Meath (3.22%), Westmeath (2.87%) and Wicklow (2.86%). Rural counties generally recorded the lowest turnover rates, as seen in Donegal (1.40%), Monaghan (1.44%) and Mayo (1.80%).
In total, 52,250 residential properties were purchased in the twelve months to April 2018, 19 per cent of which were new properties. This compares favourably to the same period in 2017, when the figure for new dwellings stood at just 16.5%. 18,062 residential property transactions took place in Dublin, the highest in the country, while only 344 transactions were recorded in Monaghan. Meath recorded the highest proportion of new dwelling transactions
at 37.8%, followed by Kildare (30.6%) and Wicklow (25.1%).
Average Property Prices
The national average price in the twelve months to April 2018 was €273,206. When Dublin is excluded, the national average falls to €198,906. Only three counties recorded property prices above the national average, namely Dublin (€413,891), Wicklow (€354,113) and Kildare (€281,675). This highlights the demand for housing in the Greater Dublin Region, with the average property price in these three counties higher relative to the rest of the country. The county with the lowest average house price was Longford at €101,587, almost 50 per cent below the national average price excluding Dublin.
In Dublin itself, Dublin 4 at €775,974 was the Dublin postal district with the highest average property price, followed by Dublin 6 at €750,549. Dublin 10 (€214,286) and Dublin 17 (€236,286) were the only Dublin postal districts with an average property price below €250,000.
Commenting on the findings of the GeoView Residential Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO, GeoDirectory said, “The twelve months to June 2018 saw a significant increase in terms of residential construction activity. The report shows that the vast majority of this activity is taking place in Dublin and surrounding counties. However, despite this increase, house prices in urban and commuter counties continue to rise, showing us that demand is still outweighing supply by a great deal.”
Annette Hughes, Director of EY-DKM Economic Advisory Services said, “Almost one-in-five residential property transactions in the twelve months up to April 2018 involved new dwellings. While this suggests that construction activity is moving in the right direction and new dwellings are coming on stream, increasing property prices continue to signal a significant supply-demand imbalance, implying that much more work is needed to address demand levels.”
For all of the GeoView Residential Property Reports from 2014 visit here