29th January 2026
Housing Completions – A Ray of Hope – IPAV
Commenting on the 36,284 new dwelling completions for 2025, an increase of one-fifth on the previous year, IPAV, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers, said it was encouraging but much more needed to be done.
Genevieve McGuirk, IPAV’s Chief Executive said: “Expectations for the year were not great, given that measures in the Government’s new housing plan were not yet in place.
“Subsequent changes, including in apartment size rules, reduction in VAT for new builds and the accelerating infrastructure initiative does mean there will be greater optimism for this year,” she said.
“That said, there is a long way to go. IPAV would like to see a far greater emphasis on vacancy, particularly around the cities where people want to live, for purchase and for rent. Such represents the low hanging fruit and could be an easy win, if prioritised.”
Ms McGuirk said the finding of the latest Mitchell McDermott report that between 2022 and 2025 only 30% of large-scale residential development permissions started construction was a “serious concern.”
“This encompassed a period when the ECB was rapidly increasing interest rates,” she said. “The report also notes that many of the schemes were in regional areas which probably indicates that smaller developers with less deep pockets are likely to be involved.”
She said the issue of smaller developers struggling with the high cost of credit has been an issue highlighted by IPAV for several years. The State scheme, Home Building Finance Ireland, set up in 2019 to address this very issue, ended up being used largely by well-known developer companies, which had the capacity to raise funds elsewhere
She said: “We cannot afford well-intentioned projects like this having such unintended and ineffective results. One would expect that the Housing Activation Office will be able to address such issues into the future. But, identifying the problem will not be sufficient, addressing it is what will deliver,” she concluded.
Ends