Dublin home construction up 45 per cent

The number of new homes built in Dublin city and county has risen by almost 45 per cent this year, according to new figures from the Department of Housing.

Just over 3,400 houses and apartments were built in the capital in the first 10 months of the year compared to 2,357 in the same period last year.

However, the number of new homes delivered is still running at less than half the 10,000 needed to meet demand for housing in Dublin annually.

Residential construction has risen nationally this year but the increases are smaller than in the capital. Up to the end of October this year 11,797 houses and apartments had been built, an increase of 17 per cent on the first 10 months of 2015.

More than 40 per cent of the housing built this year is in the greater Dublin area, which includes Dublin and its commuter counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. In this area, a total of 4,995 homes were built, up 35 per cent on the first 10 months of 2015.

Fingal, the north county Dublin local authority, has the State’s highest level of building with 1,296 homes built in the first 10 months of the year.

However, when it comes to the number of homes on which construction started this year, Dublin appears to be lagging behind the rest of the State.

In the first 10 months of the year work started on just under 10,000 homes nationally, an increase of 42 per cent, and in the greater Dublin area work started on 5,346, an increase of 30 per cent.

However, while the number of houses on which building started in Dublin city and county did increase, the rate of change was lower, up just under 20 per cent on the first 10 months of last year.

Separately, the Housing Assistance Payment (Hap) has been made available to social welfare recipients and low income workers in nine more local authority areas. The rent payment, which is paid directly to landlords by local authorities, is now available in 28 council areas following its extension to Cavan, Kerry, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

In the Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal County Council areas Hap is currently only used to accommodate homeless households leaving emergency accommodation, but will be extended to all households qualifying for social housing supports by next March.