HOUSING MINISTER DARRAGH O’Brien has told Cabinet today that the Government will hit or exceed its target for new homes this year.

Earlier today O’Brien provided Cabinet with an update on residential housing supply for the first six months of 2023.

He said that this year’s target of 29,000 homes should be reached or exceeded if “trends over the recent decade are sustained”.

However, the Government’s Housing for All strategy estimates Ireland will need an average of 33,000 new homes to be provided each year from 2021 to 2030.

More homes were built in the first six months of this year than in any other H1 since comparable data collection began in 2011.

A total of 14,017 homes were completed between January and June, this is up 6% on the same period in 2022 and builds on the 29,776 homes delivered in 2022.

There were 6,664 and 7,353 new homes completed in Q1 and Q2 2023 respectively, however completions in the second quarter were down slightly (around 3.5%) on the same period last year.

In addition to this, construction began on more than 18,500 new homes between January and July this year, up 12% on the same period last year.

Minister O’Brien today asked Government to note the “very strong” commencement activity in the last nine months, along with the recent upward trend in planning permissions granted.

He said this suggests the uplift in delivery in 2022 can be sustained into the coming years.

The housing delivery target will increase from 29,000 in 2023 to 33,450 next year.

O’Brien is optimistic that the overall target for 2023 can be reached and the uplift in delivery sustained into 2024 and 2025.

Despite this, O’Brien told Cabinet that there is still a level of uncertainty in the residential construction sector in respect of borrowing costs and construction inflation.

Non-government forecasts for new home delivery this year range from 27,000 to 30,000.

The ESRI and Central Bank forecast 27,000 and 27,500 homes will be completed in 2023 respectively.

However, BNP Paribas and MyHome, both suggest around 30,000 new homes will be delivered in 2023.

Mortgage drawdowns

According to recent figures from the Banking and Payment Federation of Ireland mortgage drawdowns by first-time buyers are at their highest level since 2007.

First-time buyer mortgage approvals are up almost 23% this year.

According to the CSO Residential Property Price Index some 17,250 homes, including around 5,360 new homes, were purchased by first-time buyers in the year to June 2023.

This represents a 10% increase on 2022.

Minister O’Brien also told Cabinet today that a review of housing targets is also underway and will be finalised in Spring 2024.