Waterford on track for record number of houses commencing construction in last 10 years
With 711 homes beginning to be constructed in the county this year, only 17 more homes need to begin construction this year for the figure to break the 10-year record set in 2019.
Construction has been started on more than 700 homes in Waterford so far this year, the highest number that has been achieved by August in the last 10 years. With 711 homes beginning to be constructed in the county this year, only 17 more homes need to begin construction this year for the figure to break the 10-year record set in 2019.
Across the country, construction began on 37,622 homes since the start of the year, according to data from the Department Of Housing, Planning and Local Government. This amounts to a 76% increase on the number constructed last year when just 21,316 were constructed in the same timeframe.
The data, which includes any new home that began construction until the end of August this year, shows that the construction of homes has risen significantly in Waterford in the last eight months.
In Waterford, 711 homes started construction in the first eight months of this year, a number which is buoyed by a significant outlier month in April when 489 homes began construction – 69% of all homes this year. This was the highest number of new homes to begin construction in the last 10 years.
A statement from the Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government to the Waterford News & Star explained that the “extraordinary volume of home starts” is due to a number of Government schemes to incentivise home building having been expected to end in April 2024.
The Department said that the “Government introduced the development levy waiver and the Uisce Éireann connection charge rebate in April 2023 to fast track development and make more projects viable”.
These schemes were then extended until the end of 2024 in a bid to encourage increased housing supply.
Despite the extension of the schemes in April, the number of homes that began construction has been stunted since the bumper month. The Department of Housing said it is “confident” these extensions will “ensure the increased new home supply already delivered under Housing for All will be sustained and built upon in Waterford”.
The Data also shows that June was the worst month this year for new homes to be constructed when just one new home began to be built, compared with 168 homes in June 2023.
The highest number of homes to be constructed in Waterford in a single calendar year was in 2019 when 727 new homes began to be built. After dropping to 449 homes in 2020, since then the construction industry has gradually surged breaking the 700-mark last year.
A total of 4,915 new homes have begun construction since January 2014.
