GeoView Residential Buildings Report Shows Signs of Strong Rebound of Building Activity in Ireland

Number of Residential Buildings Under Construction up 38% in the Twelve Months to June 2021.

Evidence that construction activity is gathering momentum following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in April.

 

GeoView Residential Buildings Report Q2 2021 Highlights:

  • 18,911 residential buildings were under construction in Ireland in June 2021, compared to 13,661 buildings on the corresponding date in 2020

  • 25,511 new residential addresses were added to the GeoDirectory database in the twelve months to June 2021

  • Apartments make up for almost one in ten of all residential dwellings in the country. In Dublin, apartments account for 22.6% of all residential dwellings

  • The national residential vacancy rate in June 2021 remained unchanged at 4.5%. In total, there were 92,135 vacant residential properties across Ireland

  • The average residential property price in the twelve months to May 2021 was €306,641. 18.1% of all transactions involved new dwellings

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE 

26 July 2021:
18,911 residential buildings were under construction in June 2021, amounting to a year-on-year increase of 38.4%, according to the latest GeoView Residential Buildings Report commissioned by GeoDirectory and prepared by EY Economic Advisory. This suggests that residential construction activity has rebounded quickly since Covid-19 restrictions on the sector were lifted in April.
 
Over half of the residential buildings under construction in Ireland in June 2021 were located in the Leinster region (58.4%). The Greater Dublin Area of Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow accounted for 35.6% of the total number of buildings under construction in the country. In contrast, the lowest levels of construction activity were recorded in Ulster (6.5%) and Connacht (10.6%).
 
Analysis of the data found that the proportional share of residential buildings under construction in Dublin fell by 6 percentage points (ppts) in the twelve months to June 2021. This is due to the fact that there are currently more apartment blocks under construction in Dublin than in previous years.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE
 
Additions to the GeoDirectory Database
25,511 new residential addresses were added to GeoDirectory’s nationwide database in the twelve months to June 2021. This represents an increase of 53.5% when compared to June 2020.
 
At 30.8%, the highest proportion of the new residential address points were located in Dublin, followed by Cork (10.8%), Kildare (9.4%) and Meath (5.7%). In percentage terms, Leitrim (+219.6%), Carlow (+146.5%) and Roscommon (+144.0%) registered the highest year-on-year growth in new address points, albeit from a previously low base.
 
The report also found that 9.5% of all residential stock in the State consists of apartments. In total, there were 194,898 apartment address points across the country in June 2021. At 64.8%, the vast majority of apartments were located in Dublin, where over one in five residential dwellings is now an apartment.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE
 
Vacancy Rates
There were 92,135 vacant residential properties in the State in June 2021, resulting in a national average vacancy rate of 4.5%. This figure remains unchanged from the corresponding period in 2020. In total, 16 of the 26 counties recorded a decline in residential vacancy rates in the twelve months to June 2021.
 
Dublin, at 1.6%, had the lowest vacancy rate in the country despite a slight year-on-year increase of 0.3 percentage points. Neighbouring counties Kildare (2.0%) and Wicklow (2.4%) also recorded significantly low vacancy rates. In contrast, Leitrim registered the highest vacancy rate at 14.8%, followed by Roscommon (12.3%) and Mayo (12.0%).
 
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

Property Transactions
The number of residential property transactions fell in the twelve months to May 2021, down 6.5% on the corresponding figure in 2020. In total, 39,526 residential property transactions took place, of which 18.1% were for new dwellings. Of the national total, Kildare (40.8%) and Meath (39.8%) had the largest proportion of new dwelling transactions.
 
The average residential property price in Ireland across this time period was €306,641. The highest average price was in Dublin (€471,185), while Longford (€129,393) had the lowest average price in the country.
 
Commenting on the findings of the GeoView Residential Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory said, “Our data shows that residential construction activity has responded well since Covid-19 restrictions for the sector were lifted in April. There were over 5,000 more residential buildings under construction last month than there was in June 2020. Additionally, the GeoDirectory database recorded over 25,000 new residential address points in the past twelve months. This is still short of the levels of stock needed to ease demand, but the data trends suggest that things are moving in the right direction.”
 
Annette Hughes, Director at EY Economic Advisory, said, “Despite a positive outlook regarding the pipeline of new builds, the level of residential property transactions is still some way short of pre-Covid levels. In the twelve months to May 2021, the number of transactions fell by 6.5%. There are a number of reasons for this, including travel limits, restrictions around viewings and people holding off on moving or selling their house.”
 
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE
 
For Further Information:
Killian Keys, Wilson Hartnell Public Relations, 086-1024302, killian.keys@ogilvy.com
Dara Keogh and Annette Hughes are available for interview, please contact info@geodirectory.ie to organise.
 
GeoDirectory was jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) to create and manage Ireland’s only complete database of commercial and residential buildings. The figures are recorded through a combination of the An Post network of 5,600 delivery staff working with OSi.
 
The GeoDirectory database is used by many different companies and organisations across a diverse range of applications. Its database and services are used by the Central Statistics Office to achieve more accurate census results. Gas Networks Ireland has used GeoDirectory to identify and categorise new potential customers and 11890 Directory Inquiries have used GeoDirectory to provide detailed directions and maps to their customers.
 
In the property sector, GeoDirectory is used by Daft.ie and the Property Registration Authority. In addition, utility companies, banking and insurance providers, and all local authorities use the database.

For further information or to view relevant case studies please visit: www.geodirectory.ie and @GeoDirectory_ie on Twitter.
 
GeoFindIT App: An award-winning, free app available to download on iOS and Android. GeoFindIT provides information on the prices of all sold properties in Ireland. In addition, it lists details on thousands of hotels, shops, restaurants and bars across the country.
 
Past GeoView Residential Buildings Reports are available to view on the Knowledge Centre of our website here.