Housing construction in Ireland bounced back in the second quarter of the year, with new dwelling completions reaching pre-Covid levels, new data from the Central Statistics Office showed.
More than 5,000 new dwelling completions were recorded in the second quarter of the year as restrictions on the construction industry were lifted and building resumed.
Apartments accounted for more than a quarter of that figure, with 1,333 apartment completions in the three-month period. More than 68 per cent were in Dublin.
Although the total completions were 55.5 per cent higher than in the second quarter of 2020, the pandemic restrictions skew those figures. Compared with the same period in 2019, total completions were up 4.6 per cent.
“The recovery of the construction sector following the relaxation of restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic can be seen in the New Dwelling Completions this quarter,” CSO statistician Justin Anderson said.
“Of all completions in Q2 2021, 50.6 per cent are scheme, 26.5 per cent are apartments and 22.9 per cent are single dwellings. This is the first quarter since the series began in 2011 where more than a quarter of completions have been apartments.”
The local electoral area of Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart had the most completions at 185 in the second quarter of the year, followed by Howth-Malahide and Lucan.
The only area outside the capital with more than 100 completions was Skibbereen-West Cork with 101.
All 166 local electoral areas had at least one completion during the three-month period.
Goodbody’s Dermot O’Leary said the data confirmed the post-lockdown rebound in housing construction in Ireland.
“In [the first half] overall, completions were effectively flat on 2019 levels suggesting that the pandemic merely stalled the upward trend in new housing supply in Ireland rather than reversing it,” he said.
