Construction figures published

JUST 161 new housing units were commenced in the general Dublin during the first four months of 2012, according to recent statistics released by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).

However, the figures still mark an increase of 70 units or 77 per cent on the same period during 2011, when work began on only 91 new units.

The numbers were published in the CIF’s latest Housing Statistics Bulletin which showed 18 units in the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown area, 21 in Fingal, eight in South Dublin and 114 in Dublin City.

Of the new units commenced 39 were single units, representing 24 per cent of the total activity.

The 2011 comparison figures had 17 commencing in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, 16 in Fingal, 29 in South Dublin and 29 in Dublin City.

For the 12 month period up to the end of April of this year, 408 housing units were commenced overall in Dublin. This compares with 480 in the 12 months up to April 2011, a year on year decrease of 72 units or 15 per cent.

There was also a decrease in the level of house completions in Dublin during the first five months of 2012. Between January and May of this year 426 housing units were completed. This compares with 823 during the same period in 2011, a decrease of 397 units or 48 per cent.

The breakdown of the housing units completed per area was 31 in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, 119 in Fingal, 89 in South Dublin and 187 in Dublin City.

The 2011 breakdown for the same period saw 131 completed in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, 320 in Fingal, 76 in South Dublin and 296 in Dublin City.

Meanwhile, the latest National Housing Construction Index complied and issued by Link2Plans has shown a continued drop in construction activity in Dublin.

The index measures both planning applications and planning commencements throughout the months of January through to June 2012 and gives a direct comparison with the same period last year.

The research shows that from January to June, 1,221 planning applications were submitted in Dublin. This compared to 1,445 in 2011 resulting in a drop of 16 per cent. The same period also saw a two per cent decrease in the number of commencement notices issued in Dublin from 569 to 579.

Managing Director of Link2Plans, Danny O’Shea there were real regional variations in the national index.

“There is a still a huge number of housing construction projects taking place, albeit those projects are on average smaller than in previous years,

? he said.

“Across the island of Ireland, for the first six months of 2012, we have seen 10,287 individual residential projects apply for planning permission.

“Our team of researchers has examined the volume of construction projects in relation to the population of each area. The results are dramatic.

“For example, the three Ulster counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan combined, have three times more construction activity, per head of population, than Dublin. Munster, Connaught and Northern Ireland have in the region twice the activity per head of population than Dublin.

“The message coming loud and clear from this analysis, is that there are thousands of live housing construction projects, however they are more regionally spread out, rather than the large concentration in Dublin and the Greater Dublin area.

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