This will result in a need for 550,000 more homes with current estimated housing demand of 30,000-35,000 per annum to overcome the current shortfall and then this will reduce to 25,000 new homes per year. In this context, Central Bank research points to house completions of approximately 23,500 units in 2018 and 28,500 in 20196.
The profile of the housing stock is also changing with an increase in the number of apartments. Recent CSO data shows that within the Dublin City local authority area, apartments (74,537) were the main dwelling type for the first time - replacing terraced houses (74,446)7.