There were 8,823 new dwelling completions in April, May, and June (Q2) 2026, a fall of 3.6% on the same three months of 2025.
Apartment completions in Q2 2026 were 2,658, down 12.2% from Q2 2025.
There were 4,738 scheme dwelling completions in Q2 2026, up 2% from Q2 2025.
The number of single dwellings completed in Q2 2026 was 1,427, down 3.7% from Q2 2025.
More than half of completions (54%) were scheme dwellings, 30% were apartments, and 16% were single dwellings in Q2 2026.
There was a decrease in completions from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026 in two regions of Ireland, a 16.4% fall in the Dublin region and a 13.9% fall in the Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary) region.
The Local Electoral Area (LEA) with the most completions in Q2 2026 was Cabra-Glasnevin in County Dublin at 465.
Using the CSO six-way urban/rural classification, nearly 95% of scheme housing completions were built in either Cities, Satellite urban towns or Independent urban towns.
Single dwellings are one-off dwellings connected to the ESB network.
Scheme dwellings are houses that form part of a multi-unit development of two or more houses connected to the ESB network.
Apartment dwellings are within a multi-unit development and are specifically identified by the ESB as apartments.
| New Dwelling Completions | ||||
| Single | Scheme | Apartment | Totals | |
| Quarter 2 2025 | 1,482 | 4,643 | 3,027 | 9,152 |
| Quarter 2 2026 | 1,427 | 4,738 | 2,658 | 8,823 |
| % change | -3.7% | 2.0% | -12.2% | -3.6% |
There were 8,823 new dwelling completions in the second quarter of 2026, a fall of 3.6% compared with the same quarter in 2025. Completions decreased by 12.2% for apartments from 3,027 in Q2 2025 to 2,658 in Q2 2026.
The Q2 data for 2026 also shows that:
The primary data source used for the New Dwellings Completions series is the ESB Networks new domestic connections dataset, where the date that the connection is energised determines the date of completion. It is accepted that the ESB domestic connections dataset is overestimating new dwellings and the CSO has adjusted for this overcount by using additional information from the ESB and other data sources.
ESB connections are classified into four categories: new dwelling completions, UFHDs (previously finished houses in Unfinished Housing Developments), reconnections and non-dwellings. The dwelling type (single, scheme, apartment) and urban-rural divide are defined by the ESB Network. See Background Notes for a more detailed discussion of the classification.
The New Dwelling Completions series is based on the number of domestic dwellings connected by the ESB Network to the electricity supply and may not accord precisely with geographical boundaries.
The CSO has utilised other available data sources to validate and enhance the ESB connections dataset. However, this was only possible where the connections dataset could be confidently linked to another dataset using unique identifiers or by address matching. As the level of Eircode collection, coverage and storage increases across data sources in the housing sector, it is expected that the precision of estimates on new dwelling completions can be further enhanced.
The ESB connections data, with adjustments as detailed above, is the most consistent manner of measuring housing completions with connections made in the same way by one organisation, ESB Networks, across the country. No other currently available sources have this same level of consistency nor accuracy in identifying numbers of individual units.
There has been a significant level of construction output in the student accommodation sector. These are generally connected to the ESB Network as commercial connections and are therefore not included in the ESB domestic connections dataset used for the new dwelling completions. Further to this the data available on this sector is on a “bed space” basis and it is not currently possible to report on it as dwellings, which are self-contained units of living accommodation. Based on consultation with stakeholders in this sector, student accommodation may be included in future New Dwelling Completions reports as a separate category. Information on completed student bed spaces is provided by the Higher Education Authority (HEA). They have detailed to the CSO that there was 36 new bed spaces completed in Q2 2026.
Table 2 shows that 68% of apartment completions in Q2 2026 were in Cities. Nearly 95% of scheme housing completions were built in either Cities, Satellite urban towns or Independent urban towns. For single house completions, over 85% were in either Rural areas with high urban influence, Rural areas with moderate urban influence or Highly Rural/Remote areas.
New dwelling completions by the six-way urban/rural classification going back to 2011 by year and dwelling type can be viewed in the PxStat table NDA13. Note that this definition of urban and rural locations differs from that described above, which is designated by ESB networks.
There was a relative decrease in new dwelling completions in only two regions of Ireland, a 16.4% fall in the Dublin region and a 13.9% fall in the Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary) region from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026.
Six of the eight regions of Ireland saw rises in completions from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026. The largest relative increase was in the Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo) at 14.6%, South-East (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford) (+12%), and the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) (9.4%) regions.
More than a third (36%) of completions in Q2 2026 were in Dublin, with less than a fifth (19.6%) in the Mid-East region (Louth, Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow) (See Figure 2).
More than three-quarters (75.5%) of apartment completions in Q2 2026 were in Dublin (2,006). In Dublin City, 91.4% of completions in Q2 2026 were apartments (1,170). The most scheme dwelling completions were in the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) region (1,301), while Fingal was the local authority with the most scheme completions (551). The South-West region (Cork and Kerry) had the most single dwelling completions in Q2 2026 (239), with Cork County (165) the local authority with the most one-off dwelling completions (See Table 3).
Classification into local authorities has taken into account boundary changes between Cork City and Cork County which came into effect in May 2019. All historical data within the tables below and the PxStat interactive tables have been revised to now be based on the new boundaries. However, data within archived releases remain unchanged.
The most completions by Local Electoral Area (LEA) in Q2 2026 was in Cabra-Glasnevin (465). Swords in Dublin was the LEA with the second highest number of completions at 372. Outside of Dublin, Drogheda Rural (255) was the only other LEA in the top ten with the most completions this quarter (See Map 1).
New dwelling completions by LEA going back to 2012 by year and quarter can be viewed in the PxStat tables NDA05 and NDQ09. There is also data available by Eircode Routing Key by year and quarter in PxStat tables NDA01 and NDQ07.
There was a total of 9,131 new domestic ESB connections in Q2 2026, a decrease of 5.5% from 9,666 in Q2 2025. The ESB domestic connections series continues to show a comparable trend to the New Dwelling Completion (NDC) series compiled by the CSO as shown in Figure 3. The number of new dwelling completions as a percentage of total ESB domestic connections was 96.6% in Q2 2026.
There are still some small differences in volume between the two series. The starting point for the NDC series is the ESB domestic connections dataset, with adjustments made to account for previously finished houses in unfinished housing developments (UFHDs), reconnections and non-dwellings as shown in Figure 4 and Table 4.
A property that is reconnected to the ESB Network after having been disconnected for more than two years is assigned a new Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) and is therefore included in the ESB new connections datasets and is here considered to be a reconnection. There were 214 reconnections in Q2 2026, a decrease of 40.7% from 361 in Q2 2025.
The number of previously finished dwellings in unfinished housing developments (UFHDs) was low at 23 in Q2 2026. The number of non-dwellings, mostly farm buildings, fell 51% from 145 in Q2 2025 to 71 in Q2 2026. UFHDs accounted for just 0.3% of all connections this quarter (See Figure 4 and Table 4).
The highest number of reconnections in Q2 2026 was in the West region (46) followed by 38 in the South-West region. Non-dwellings were highest in the Mid-East (14) with the highest number of UFHDs in the Border (9). Dublin had the highest proportion of connections being new dwelling completions (99.5%) with the West region having the lowest (89%) (See Table 5).
The average new dwelling size index over the first two quarters of 2026 stayed at 69, which represents no change in the index from 2025. However, as can be seen in Figure 5, the average size of dwellings completed since 2016 has been reducing. This is driven by both an increase in the proportion of completed dwellings which were apartments and a general decrease in the size of dwellings, particularly single dwellings (See Table 6). The average new dwelling size index is obtained by linking ESB connections to Building Energy Rating (BER) assessment data from the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) for new dwelling completions (See Table 7 in Background Notes for match rates).
A seasonal adjustment has been applied to the new dwelling completions to show an additional measure of change over time. This allows for a quarter-on-quarter comparison. See Background Notes for more detail on the seasonal adjustment.
For all dwelling types, there was a 6% decrease in seasonally adjusted completions from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026. There was a 10% decrease for scheme dwellings and a 6% decrease for single dwellings between Q1 2026 and Q2 2026. For apartment completions there was a slight increase of 1% comparing the latest two quarters of data (See NDQ01).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 July 2026) published New Dwelling Completions Quarter 2 (Q2) 2026. The CSO uses new connections to the electricity network as the basis for statistics on new dwelling completions, a data source that is collected nationally by one organisation in a consistent manner for all dwellings (See Background Notes for more information).
Commenting on the release, Steven Conroy, Statistician, said: “The number of new dwelling completions in April, May, and June (Q2) 2026 was 8,823. This was a decrease of 3.6% compared with the 9,152 completions in Q2 2025.
Completions by Dwelling Type
There were 2,658 apartment completions in Q2 2026, which was down 12.2% on the same quarter in 2025. Scheme dwelling completions rose 2% from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026 to stand at 4,738. Single dwelling completions fell by 3.7% from 1,482 in Q2 2025 to 1,427 in Q2 2026.
More than half of all completions in Q2 2026 (54%) were scheme dwellings, 30% were apartments, and 16% were single dwellings.
Regional Breakdown
More than a third (36%) of completions in Q2 2026 were in Dublin, with less than a fifth (19.6%) in the Mid-East region (Louth, Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow).
There was a relative decrease in completions in two regions of Ireland, a 16.4% fall in the Dublin region and a 13.9% fall in the Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary) region from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026.
The regions with the largest relative increase in completions were the Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo) at 14.6%, while the South-East (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford) saw the second largest relative growth at 12%.
For Q2 2026, 75.5% of apartment completions were in Dublin (2,006). In Dublin City, 91.4% of completions were apartments. The most scheme completions were in the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) region at 1,301 completions. The South-West region (Cork and Kerry) had the most single dwelling completions in Q2 2026 at 239 completions.
The most completions in Q2 2026 by Local Electoral Area (LEA) were in Cabra-Glasnevin in Dublin at 465."