Written by Robert McHugh for Business World

New figures released today by GeoDirectory have shown that residential construction has increased by 36% year-on-year.

A total of 5,966 buildings were classified as being under construction in the GeoDirectory database in June 2017, compared with the June 2016 figure of 4,375. Dublin continues to account for the bulk of new construction activity, at just under 25% of all buildings under construction. The database found that there was a total of 1,967,698 residential dwellings across the country in June 2017.

The team at GeoDirectory believe that one of the reasons for the sharp increase in construction is the low number of vacant properties in the market.

GeoDirectory report an estimated vacant stock of 96,243 (4.9% of the total stock) address points or dwellings in June 2017, while the 2016 Census reported a vacant stock of 183,312 (12.3%) dwellings, as of April 2016. The 2016 Census enumerators, in identifying vacant dwellings, were instructed to look for signs that the dwelling was not occupied e.g. no furniture, no cars outside, junk mail accumulating or overgrown garden, and to find out from neighbours whether it was vacant or not. It was not sufficient to classify a dwelling as vacant after one or two visits.

Dublin (0.89% of the Dublin total stock) and the surrounding counties of Kildare (1.99%), Meath (3.35%), Wicklow (2.65%) and Louth (3.61%) had the lowest percentages of vacant units by county in the State. The other end of the scale is dominated by counties in the west of Ireland, namely Leitrim (16.61%), Roscommon (13.88%) and Mayo (13.06%).

Residential data from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government showed that in the twelve months to March 2017, a total of 14,192 commencements were registered, with Dublin (5,317), Cork (1,568) and Meath (1,291) between them accounting for just under 60% of the national total.

The gulf between the housing market in Dublin and the rest of the country can be seen clearly when the average national property price is examined. The national average house price for the year was €250,188, an increase of almost €23,739 since last year. When Dublin is removed from the figures, the national average property price falls to €175,782.

The average residential property price in Dublin now stands at €404,911, this is €40,628 above the price this time last year. This is well above the averages for the rest of the country with the next highest average price recorded in Wicklow (€316,057). Longford, where the property market has been one of the poorest performers recorded the lowest average price of €92,084.

Counties on the west coast of Ireland recorded the greatest concentration of dwellings per 1,000 of the population, particularly Leitrim (552), which had the lowest average household size in the country (2.3 persons per household). In contrast, Meath had only 353 dwellings per 1,000 of the population, while it had the largest average household size (3 persons  per household).

The average national housing turnover rate in the twelve months to May 2017 was 2.22%, with seven of the twenty-six counties recording turnover rates above this average. The counties with the highest turnover rates were Westmeath (2.88%), Dublin (2.69%) and Kildare (2.55%).