Irish housing completions dropped 28 per cent in the five months through May compared with a year earlier as builders cut back on projects in reaction to a slump in demand.
Some 23,569 houses were completed in the period, down from 32,714 a year ago, the Department of Environment said in a statement last night. The number of mortgage loans approved in the first quarter fell 38 per cent to 15,358, the Department said.
Measured by value, mortgages declined 32 per cent.
Irish house prices are tumbling and construction is contracting at a record pace after higher interest rates and restricted credit ended a decade-long property boom.
The government figures also show that property prices fell 3.1 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier.
In Dublin, prices dropped as much as 10 per cent.
Bloomberg
