Construction has started on fewer than one in every two homes granted planning permissions as part of large residential developments over the past four years.
At the other end of the scale, pressure on students to find accommodation is only likely to worsen as the number of new beds planned for delivery this year is the lowest in two decades, according to construction consultants Mitchell McDermott.
Large scale residential developments – each of which must propose at least 100 homes – account for somewhere between 60 and 70 per cent of all homes granted planning permission in the State, the consultants note in their annual review of the industry.
Its analysis found that of the 48,000 homes granted permission as part of such estate developments since 2022, work has started on just 18,500, or less than 40 per cent.
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Even allowing for permissions overturned under judicial review and discounting the 11,500 that received permission in the last six months of 2025, construction on just 18,500 of the 32,000 houses and apartments with permission has commenced.
Paul Mitchell, one of the authors of the report, said the fact that work had started on only three out of 10 homes originally seeking permission over the four years was a “major concern”.
“The fact that 53 large-scale residential development schemes, comprising 14,000 units which have planning permission are stalled is very worrying. In the middle of a housing crisis, we just cannot afford to be losing up to 4,000 units a year.”
He said it was not clear exactly why construction had not started on so many schemes and suggested they should be a target for the Government’s recently appointed Housing Activation Office.
Mitchell McDermott said that, assuming the Government adopts a consistent rate of growth to hit its 2030 housing target, it will need to see 13,000 apartments built this year, 2,000 more than last year. It will also need to deliver 20,000 houses, up 3,000 on 2025) and 6,000 one-off homes.
It says apartment and housing numbers need to increase by 17 per cent each year over the next four years.
The group says it expects the final housing output figure for last year, published on Thursday, to be around 34,000 homes, “well short of the numbers we need to be delivering at this point”.
Noting that planning permissions are one of the key indicators of future output, it said that the 32,000 homes approved last year was the lowest figure in six years.
“To hit our housing targets, we will need to drive this figure much higher while simultaneously ensuring that as many schemes as possible with planning are built,” Mr Mitchell said.
On student housing, Mr Mitchell said there was currently demand for 90,000 beds but a shortfall on that number of almost 40,000.
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Just 657 student beds were delivered last year, the report says, down 54 per cent on the previous year. And the 422 additional beds it expects to become available this year will be the lowest in over 20 years. Back in 2020, 3,485 new beds came on stream, Mitchell McDermott says.
There is planning for 15,000 beds but construction has halted due to viability issues, Mr Mitchell said, adding that a range of new regulations over the past five years had stymied development.
Allowing landlords to reset student accommodation rent caps now, rather than from 2029, could, Mitchell McDermott said, deliver between 5,000 and 8,000 new student beds over the next three years.
