Last year will go down as a “pivotal” one for housing policy and for the Government’s target to deliver 300,000 homes by 2030, the country’s largest estate agent Sherry Fitzgerald has said.
In its latest review of the sector, the company said the Government had advanced large‑scale changes aimed at increasing supply, stabilising the rental sector, and underpinning delivery.
Consequently, “there was more reason to be hopeful about the delivery of new homes ... now than there has been at any point in much of the last decade,” it said.
By way of context, Sherry Fitzgerald noted that the delivery of new homes in the Republic hit its peak in 2006, when 93,419 homes were delivered to the market.
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But in the years immediately after, and particularly post the global financial crisis, housing output declined dramatically, it said.
In 2013, the sector delivered the lowest number of new homes to the market on record, with just 4,575 units completed that year.
Since then, there has been some recovery in the new homes market, with 2025 marking the highest recorded output since the Celtic Tiger era.
“However, it is still important to acknowledge that this at a significantly slower pace than is needed to meet demand,” it said, noting that last year, 64.6 per cent of annual demand was fulfilled across the State compared to just 53.6 per cent in 2024.
The company’s report details a list of housing policy reforms overseen by the Government last year including a full review of the National Development Plan, “with a particular focus on housing delivery, and capacity expansion for energy, water and transport”.
“Revised housing targets for each local authority were also announced in April 2025 under the revised National Planning Framework, and local authorities have since been asked to significantly increase the quantity of zoned residential land in order to meet the new targets,” it said.
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Sherry Fitzgerald also highlighted the Government’s overhaul of the rent controls, plus a reduction in VAT on new-build apartments and an exemption from corporation tax on rental income from cost-rental properties, which it said would “incentivise long-term, affordable rental supply.”
Other industry players have cited revised design standards as another big policy initiative to plug the viability gap.
“It is important to acknowledge that the full impact of these initiatives will take time to come to fruition, but it is expected that there will be a continued improvement in new housing supply in 2026 and beyond,” Sherry Fitzgerald said.
The Government’s revamped housing plan promises that a minimum of 300,000 new homes will be built by 2030, but a sharp slowdown in commencements has placed a question mark over that target.
