A total of 9,214 new homes were completed in Ireland during the second quarter of 2025, marking a 35% increase compared to the same period last year, according to new data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The increase has been largely driven by a sharp rise in apartment construction.
The CSO figures show that 15,149 homes have been completed in the first six months of 2025. With the government’s annual target for housing completions set at 41,000, the country remains well behind schedule at the mid-point of the year. In 2024, a total of 30,206 new homes were delivered.
Apartment completions more than doubled year-on-year in the second quarter, reaching 3,053 units — a 101% increase. Housing schemes accounted for 4,643 completions, up 17% from the same period in 2024, while single dwellings increased by 13% to 1,518 units.
Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart in Dublin recorded the highest number of completions among all local electoral areas for the quarter.
While the figures reflect positive momentum, housing experts are warning that the current pace is still insufficient to meet real demand. Analysts estimate that over 50,000 new homes need to be built annually to alleviate Ireland’s ongoing housing crisis.
Ian Lawlor, Managing Director of Roundtower Capital, welcomed the growth in completions but stressed that it falls far short of what is required. “Unless there is an exponential increase in housing delivery, steep house price and rent inflation will persist, and homes will continue to be unaffordable for a large cohort of young people,” he said.
Lawlor called for emergency housing legislation to fast-track projects deemed nationally significant, bypassing legal and bureaucratic hurdles. “Ireland mobilised rapidly during the pandemic to build hospitals. That same urgency must now be applied to housing,” he added.
Kate English, Chief Economist at Deloitte Ireland, also expressed concern, noting that while completions are at a decade-high, new housing commencements have dropped to a ten-year low — raising alarm over the future housing pipeline.
“Completion figures confirm that there is practically zero possibility of reaching housing targets this year unless something remarkable happens in the second half of 2025,” said English. “Commencement data offers little optimism for 2026 either.”
Both experts pointed to planning delays, policy uncertainty, and a lack of infrastructure as key barriers. They stressed the need for coordinated action between government, developers, and local authorities to unlock housing delivery at scale.
Despite ambitious targets laid out in the revised National Development Plan, industry voices caution that without streamlined planning and investment in infrastructure, those goals may remain out of reach.
