The government’s 2023 Housing for All completions target was 29,000 units. However, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reports 32,695 new dwellings built in 2023, with construction data specialists Construction Information Services (CIS) putting the completion figure at a more conservative 29,890 units.
CSO Housing Figures
Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicates that 32,695 new dwellings were completed in 2023, an increase of 10% on the number of homes built in 2022.
The CSO, which uses new connections to the electricity network as the basis for statistics on new dwelling completions, reports that there were 15,505 scheme dwelling completions in 2023 (up 2.4%), 11,642 apartment unit completions (up 28%), and 5,548 single dwellings completions (up 0.9%), resulting in 47.4% of completions being scheme dwellings; 35.6%, apartments; and 17%, single dwellings.
Close to six in 10 completions in Q4 2023 and the full year were in Dublin or Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow. Of all completions in Dublin, some 71.9% were apartments.
By local electoral area, the most completions in 2023 were in Glencullen- Sandyford, while the most in Q4 2023 were in the south west inner city of Dublin. There was a slight rise of 2.3% in seasonally adjusted new dwelling completions from Q3 2023 to Q4 2023.
Commenting on the CSO data, Steven Conroy, Statistician, CSO, said: “The number of new dwelling completions in 2023 was 32,695, an increase of 10% from 2022. In October, November, and December (Q4) 2023, there were 10,289 completions, a rise of 13.0% from the same quarter in 2022.
“The number of scheme dwellings completed also rose by 2.4% to 15,505 in 2023, and there was a growth of 0.9% in single dwellings to 5,548 in 2023. Of all the completions in 2023, 47.4% were scheme dwellings, 35.6% were apartments, and 17.0% were single dwellings. Data analysis shows that the proportion of apartments being built has been rising over recent years from 16.4% of completions in 2019 to 35.6% in 2023.
“In Q4 2023, there was a 1.5% fall in scheme dwellings completions and a 1.8% decrease in single dwellings completions from Q4 2022, while there was a 46.5% rise in apartments.”
CIS Housing figures
CIS reports that 29,890 housing units were completed in 2023, which it says is an increase of 15% on the previous year, with the overall figure split between just over 25,000 units within scheme housing and apartment developments across nearly 1,000 sites and with 4,855 single dwellings built.
CIS draws its data directly from the National Building Control Office’s Building Control Management System (BCMS,) which records details of the commencement and completion of building works in Ireland.
CIS research manager Scott Delaney, commenting on the figures, said: “The BCMS figures we collate are painstakingly recorded by our research team from individual completion transactions published. In many cases, we manually count the number of units in each phase or revert to the original planning documents to see the number of units granted in apartment blocks. These figures are checked rigorously, and I’m fully confident in the veracity of our data based on the BCMS register.”
CIS reports that the year started slowly, with just shy of 900 units completed in January and a peak of just over 4,000 units completed in September. The first quarter of the year saw 4,800 units completed. The second and third quarters saw 6,800 and 8,900 units completed, respectively, and the final quarter of 2023 saw a strong finish, with 9,300 units completed.
As expected, CIS reports Dublin saw the highest level of delivery with over 11.700 units completed, while the border counties region, Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan, witnessed just over 1,000 units completed in 2023. The commuter belt counties outside of the capital saw the second-highest level of delivery, with almost 6,500 units completed in Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow.
Residential commencements in 2023
To aid in alleviating the high demand for new housing in the country, CIS reports that 32,989 new housing units were recorded as commencing on site throughout 2023, up 17% on the previous year.
One of the largest developments to start on site in late 2023 was the €400m redevelopment of O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7, which, upon completion, will see over 1,000 units delivered by developer Bartra. When complete, 50% of the A-rated homes will be delivered to Dublin City Council for social and affordable housing.