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There were only 160 apartment commencements last month, the lowest figure since the pandemic, further illustrating the collapse of that segment of the housing market. Institutional investors who surged into the sector between 2016 and the start of Covid have largely withdrawn now, because apartments are no longer financially viable, with social housing bodies left as the main buyer. The figure of 160 for March compares to 1,816 commencements in the same month last year, but is also heavily down on the figures for January and February when 600 and 620 notices were filed.
No commencement notices for apartments were submitted by builders for Fingal, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown or South Dublin – three of the four local authorities in the capital. Commencement notices are formal notification to planning authorities that work is beginning on a new home. Overall, there were 723 commencements for all housing types in March, according to figures published by the Department of Housing.
This was down from 1,017 in January and 1,178 in February. The Government will be hoping that the decline in commencements means that the construction industry has switched its focus to completions. The 723 commencement notices compares to 4,909 submitted last March, which was followed by 18,700 in April 2024.
This was because builders were rushing to file papers in order to avail of a waiver on development levies and a rebate on water charges, which the Government had introduced in order to stimulate construction activity. These were originally due to lapse in April 2024, but the waiver was then extended until the end of December, and the water connection rebate continued until October. By the end of the year, some 69,060 commencement notices had been filed, but the number of housing completions fell to just 30,300.
In a housing update published in February, officials in the Department of Finance described the commencements figure last year as “very positive,” but pointed out that the waivers had “reduced the accuracy of this metric as a guide to delivery”. To benefit from the schemes, developers will have to complete their housing projects by the end of 2026. “However, as the cost of submitting a notice is negligible, and there is no penalty for non-commencement – it is uncertain how increased notices will actually translate to completions in the short to medium term,” the Department of Finance update said.
Still, the Government will be hoping that focus of construction industry is now concentrating on getting those notified commencements finished in time, which would greatly boost the number of completions this year. In terms of the 723 commencements in March, the focus of activity was largely outside the capital. There were only 3 in Fingal and in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, and one in South Dublin, with 56 in the Dublin city council area.
By contrast there were 170 in Kildare, plus 25 in Roscommon and 24 in Meath..
