19/05/2003

Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.

Ahern Announces Record Year For House Completions And Highest Ever Level In Dublin

In welcoming the publication of the Department of the Environment and Local Government’s 2002 Annual Housing Statistics Bulletin, Mr. Noel Ahern, T.D., Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal today (12 May), announced that the number of new houses and apartments built last year reached a new record level of 57,695, up 9.7% on the previous record achieved in 2001 (52,602 units). This was the eight successive year of record house completions.

The Minister said, “that despite less favourable economic conditions last year, the housing sector still continued to perform well, boosted by Government support and particularly high levels of output under the local authority and voluntary housing programmes”. "We are building houses at a rate of 14.7 per 1,000 population which is by far the highest rate of house building in Europe”, the Minister added.

House completions in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA - Dublin City and County, Counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow) were also positive last year with 20,675 units being built, up 25.3% on 2001. This is the highest level of completions ever achieved in the GDA. Completions in Dublin also reached a record level with 12,623 units built, an increase of 31.4% on the previous year.

The Minister particularly welcomed the increase in the level of local authority housing output which at 5,074 units is the highest level in 16 years. This includes some 670 second hand acquisitions and 126 new units constructed in Ballymun.

In addition, there was work in progress on a further 6,768 units. Completions by the Voluntary and Co-operative housing sector output also increased with 1,360 units of accommodation provided in 2002, an increase of 8.5% on 2001, and the number of units in progress at 2,541 was up 34.9% on 2001.

There was also a marked increase in the provision of affordable housing. “The full range of social and affordable housing programmes met the needs of over 12,700 households in 2002. There has been substantial investment in social housing in recent years. Spending on the local authority housing programme alone is about 15% ahead of that forecast under the National Development Plan. The provision for this programme in 2003 is €695m, which will allow local authorities to increase house starts in 2003”, said the Minister. “Over €1.7 billion will be spent on housing in 2003 and the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement contains a commitment to review the effectiveness of programmes designed to meet the needs of low income groups and those with special housing needs”, the Minister added.

The Bulletin also shows that house prices continue to moderate since the peak in 1998, particularly in Dublin. Nationally, average annual house price increases in 2002 compared to 2001, were 8.3% and 10.5% for new and second-hand houses respectively. Increases in Dublin for new and second-hand house prices were 5.4% and 11.0% respectively.

“The overall priority of the Government in the housing area has been to increase housing supply and in this way bring moderation in the rate of house price increases. Since 1998, almost 250,000 new houses have been built and new house price inflation reduced from around 40% to around 8% at the end of last year”, said the Minister.

“It is important that the momentum that has been achieved in the house building sector is maintained and that the supply of housing continues at these record levels”, said the Minister. “The prospects for another good year in the housing sector are positive, as trends in house completions have continued to increase in the early part of this year”, the Minister concluded.

Details of the Bulletin

Part I of the Bulletin relates to housing activity. A total of 57,695 new houses were completed in 2002, an increase of 9.7% on the 52,602 units completed in 2001.

Part II gives details of the number and value of loans approved and paid by mortgage lending agencies. The total value of approvals amounted to €14.4bn (up 64% on 2001). The total value of loan payments amounted to €10.8bn (up 41% on 2001). The number of loan approvals was 93,136 (up 35%) and the number of payments was 79,292 (up 19% on 2001).

Part III gives a profile of borrowers in relation to previous tenure, marital status, income and occupation.

Part IV gives details of house prices. The Bulletin’s house price statistics are based on the house prices underpinning all loan approvals as supplied to the Department by the mortgage lending agencies.

Part V gives data on local authority and voluntary and co-operative housing output. It shows the completions, acquisitions and houses in progress by local authorities under their programme and the completions and numbers in progress by voluntary and co-operative housing bodies under the capital loan and subsidy scheme and capital assistance scheme for 2002.

Part VI details activity under the various social and affordable housing schemes such as shared ownership, affordable housing etc.

Part VII contains information on the accommodation of Travellers at 29 November, 2002.

Part VIII details activity on housing grants schemes including new house grants, disabled persons grants and essential repair grants.

Part IX contains details of the level of enforcement by the local authorities of the standards and rent books and the registration of houses and landlords at 31 December, 2002.

PART X contains details of the assessment of the number of homeless persons. The results of the assessment of homelessness undertaken by local authorities in March 2002, as part of the overall assessment of housing needs, show the number of homeless households at 3,773 compared to 3,743 in 1999 and the overall number of homeless persons at 5,581 compared to 5,234 in 1999.