New Dwelling Completions Q1 2018

Background to the publication

The New Dwelling Completions series will be produced by the CSO on a quarterly basis. In this first report additional chapters will include analysis of other indicators of housing activity in Ireland.

A Housing Analytics Group was established in 2017 by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG). This group, which met for the first time in May 2017, is made up of representatives of bodies with a significant role in housing, housing policy and related policy areas.

The Housing Analytics Group focused on a review of housing related data published nationally and, in particular, on the number of dwellings which are built each year. Arising from the work of this group and other direct discussions between the CSO and DHPLG, a significant outcome was to assess the suitability of the current housing indicators for estimating the number of new dwelling completions in Ireland.

Historically the number of new dwellings built in Ireland, as published by the DHPLG, was based on the number of connections to the ESB Network. However, in recent years it became apparent that this series was overestimating the level of new dwelling construction in Ireland, (see the three reasons for this overcounting in the Infographic). The New Dwelling Completions series will look to replace this and other available indicators of housing activity in Ireland.

The CSO also analysed other data sources which could be used to estimate the number of new dwellings built. There are many data sources available from the various legislative and practical stages involved in building a dwelling in Ireland, for example, planning permission, Commencement Notice, Certificate of Compliance on Completion, Geodirectory, eStamping, Help-to-Buy, ESB, Protect Our Water, Building Energy Rating and Local Property Tax. However, these sources are fragmented and lack a unique identifier that can track a dwelling through all stages of the building process. Eircode is the recognised identifier for addresses in Ireland but is assigned only when a dwelling is complete and mail is being delivered. Earlier assignment of Eircodes is therefore a critical component of improving data collection and reporting on new dwellings, along with increased collection and storage of Eircodes by Public Sector Bodies in their administrative systems.

What is new about this publication?

This is the first publication of data from the CSO on New Dwelling Completions. Although the CSO has not previously published data on the numbers of new dwellings built in Ireland, it does publish statistics related to new dwellings such as planning permissions and Building Energy Rating (BER) certificates.

This new series on New Dwelling Completions will be published quarterly and will include information on dwelling type, urban/rural location, activity by county and by Eircode Routing Key. It will continue to be based on ESB connections but will correct over-coverage by using additional information from ESB Networks and incorporating data from other sources.

This New Dwelling Completions series will also include, on a quarterly basis, data on the numbers of reconnections and on houses from unfinished developments that are coming back into use. This will provide policy-makers with a valuable insight into the number of new dwellings available for occupation in the quarterly period concerned and also show data on the numbers of dwellings being constructed.

What are the main results from the New Dwelling series?

The number of new dwellings built declined from 6,994 in 2011 to 4,575 in 2013 according to the New Dwelling Completions series, (see Table 2.1 below). However, over the following four years the numbers of new dwellings built has increased steadily each year to stand at 14,446 in 2017. In the first quarter of 2018 there were 3,526 new dwellings built in Ireland.