There were 29,851 new dwelling completions in the whole of 2022, an increase of 45.2% from 2021 and 41.3% up from 2019, pre-pandemic.
In October, November, and December (Q4) 2022 there were 9,148 completions, a rise of 31.4% from Q4 2021.
The number of apartments completed in 2022 was 9,166, up 78.7% from 2021. This is more than the number of apartments completed in 2020 and 2021 combined.
There were 15,163 scheme dwelling completions in 2022, up 41.9% from 2021, while 5,522 single dwellings were completed, a rise of 16.6% from 2021.
In 2022, 50.8% of completions were scheme dwellings, a further 30.7% were apartments and 18.5% were single dwellings.
Close to six in ten completions in Q4 2022 and the whole of 2022 were in Dublin or the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow). All regions saw an increase from 2021 to 2022 and from Q4 2021 to Q4 2022.
By Local Electoral Area, the most completions in 2022 were in Killiney-Shankhill with the most in Q4 2022 in Glencullen-Sandyford.
There has been a small drop of 2.8% in seasonally adjusted new dwelling completions from Q3 2022 to Q4 2022.
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 | |
| 2021 | 4,736 | 10,687 | 5,130 | 20,553 |
| 2022 | 5,522 | 15,163 | 9,166 | 29,851 |
| % change | 16.6% | 41.9% | 78.7% | 45.2% |
| Quarter 4 2021 | 1,397 | 3,413 | 2,152 | 6,962 |
| Quarter 4 2022 | 1,531 | 4,828 | 2,789 | 9,148 |
| % change | 9.6% | 41.5% | 29.6% | 31.4% |
There were 29,851 new dwelling completions in 2022, including 9,148 in the fourth quarter. This is a 45.2% increase from the completions from 20,553 over the whole of 2021 and for the quarter a 31.4% rise from 6,952 in Q4 2021. For the full year, there was a rise of 78.7% in apartment completions from 5,130 in 2021 to 9,166 in 2022.
The Q4 data for 2022 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 energized 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.
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 were 308 bed spaces completed in Q4 2022 and 1,806 in the whole of 2022.
The ESB domestic connections dataset provides information on the type of connection and whether it is in an urban or rural area. The number of completions in urban areas in 2022 was 25,108, a rise of 52.3% from 16,484 in 2021. In rural areas, there was an increase of 16.6% from 4,069 in 2021 to 4,743 in 2022. In Q4 2022 the number of completions in urban areas was 7,810, rising 35.8% from 5,751 in Q4 2021. In rural areas, there was smaller rise of 10.5% from 1,211 in Q4 2021 to 1,338 this quarter. Of all completions in 2022, 84.1 were in urban areas. See Table 2.
All eight regions of Ireland saw an increase of over 20% in completions between 2021 and 2022. This relative increase was greatest in Dublin where there was a 65.1% increase from 6,282 in 2021 to 10,370 in 2022. See Figure 2.
There was close to seven thousand (6,909) apartment completions in Dublin in 2022 representing three-quarters of all apartments completed in the year. Of all completions in Dublin in 2022, two-thirds were apartments. Over a third of scheme completions in 2022 were in the Mid-East. There were close to one thousand (995) single completions in the South-West in 2022, with this 18.0% of all nationally in the year.
The most apartment completions by local authority in 2022 were in Dublin City with 3,609 but in Q4 2022 this was highest in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown at 833. The most scheme completions for the year was in Kildare (2,075) with this highest also just for Q4 (827). Cork county had the highest number of single dwellings for the year (689) and the quarter (196). 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 2022 was in Killiney-Shankhill (1,070), North Inner City Dublin (276) followed by Lucan (817) and Glencullen-Sandyford (757). All the top ten Local Electoral Areas with the most completions in 2022 were in Dublin, Kildare or Wicklow. See Figure 3.
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. Data has also been updated at a settlement level in the annual table NDA06. Outside of the cities of Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick, Newbridge was the settlement with the most completions in 2022 with 375, followed by Dundalk (299) and Wexford Town (293). There were 27 settlements - spread across 16 counties - with more than 100 completions in 2022. This is up from 20 settlements across 12 counties in 2021.
There was a total of 10,087 new domestic ESB connections in Q4 2022 and 33,756 in the whole of 2022. This is an increase of 25.0% on the 8,069 new connections in Q4 2021 and 35.9% up on 24,846 new connections in 2021. The ESB domestic connections series continues to show a comparable trend to the NDC series compiled by the CSO as shown in Figure 4. The number of new dwelling completions as a percentage of total ESB domestic connections was 90.7% this quarter, which is the highest seen since the series began.
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 5 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 here considered to be a reconnection. There were 574 reconnections in Q4 2022, a decrease of 16.0% from 683 in Q4 2021.
The number of previously finished dwellings in unfinished housing developments (UFHDs) stayed low with 116 in Q4 2021. The number of non-dwellings - mostly farm buildings - fell 19.7% from 310 in Q4 2021 to 249 this quarter. UFHDs accounted for just 1.1% of all connections this quarter. In Q3 2014, UFHDs accounted for 24.4% of connections. See Figure 5 and Table 4.
The highest number of reconnections in Q4 2022 was in the West (102) followed by 96 in the Border region. Non-dwellings were highest in the Mid-East (45) with the South-West region having the highest number of UFHDs (38). Dublin had the highest proportion of connections being new dwelling completions (97.5%) with the Border region having the lowest (75.4%). See Table 5.
Figure 6 shows that the average new dwelling size is continuing to gradually fall year on year. The average new dwelling size index for 2022 is at 75, three-quarters of the 2016 base index of 100. This decrease is driven by both an increase in the proportion of completed dwellings being apartments and a decrease in the size of single and scheme dwellings. See Table 6. The average new dwelling size index is obtained by linking ESB connections to BER assessment data from the SEAI for new dwelling completions. See Table 7 in Background Notes for match rates.
For the first time, 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.
Figure 7 shows that for all house types, the seasonally adjusted figure has dropped very slightly - 2.3% - from 7.681 in Q3 2022 to 7,464 in Q4 2022. The seasonally adjusted figures between these two latest quarters have decreased for single dwellings (9.3%) and apartments (15.3%) but risen slightly for scheme dwellings (8.9%).
Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the release, Justin Anderson, Statistician, said: “The number of new dwelling completions in 2022 was 29,851, an increase of 45.2% from 2021. This was up 41.3% from 2019, pre-pandemic numbers. In October, November, and December (Q4) 2022 there were 9,148 completions, a rise of 31.4% from the same quarter in 2021.
Completions by Dwelling Type
From 2021 to 2022, the largest relative increase was in apartments with growth of 78.7% from 5,130 in 2021 to 9,166 in 2022. This is more than the number from 2020 and 2021 combined. The number of scheme dwellings completed also rose by 41.9% to 15,163 in 2022, and there was growth of 16.6% in single dwellings to 5,522 in 2022. Of all completions in 2022, 50.8% were scheme dwellings, 30.7% were apartments, and 18.5% were single dwellings. Analysis of the data shows that the proportion of apartments being built has been rising over recent years from 16.5% of completions in 2019 to 30.7% in 2022.
For Q4 2022, there was a 41.5% increase in scheme dwellings completions from Q4 2021, with a 29.6% rise in apartments and single dwellings up 9.6%.
Regional Breakdown
All eight regions of Ireland saw an increase of more than 20% from 2021 to 2022 with the highest growth in Dublin at 65.1%. In the year, 34.7% of completions were in Dublin with 22.9% in the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow). From Q4 2021 to Q4 2022 there was also an increase in all regions, ranging from a 9.8% rise in the Mid-West to 76.7% growth in the Midlands. There were 10,370 apartments completed in Dublin in 2022 representing more than three-quarters (75.4%) of apartment completions nationally. More than a third (33.9%) of scheme completions were in the Mid-East and 18.0% of single dwellings completed were in the South-West (Cork City, Cork County, and Kerry).
Killiney-Shankhill was the Local Electoral Area (LEA) with the most completions in 2022 with 1,070 followed by Dublin North Inner City (817) and Glencullen-Sandyford (757).”