The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland has said that based on current projections, new housing delivery will need to increase by 7.65% each year until 2030 if the Government’s ‘Housing for All’ targets are to be met.
The Central Bank has estimated that 24,500 new homes will be delivered this year, well short of the 33,000 needed annually to meet housing demand as outlined in ‘Housing for All’.
Based on those figures and in order to make up annual deficits in supply from previous years, the SCSI says new housing output will need to steadily increase to 45,000 units per annum by the end of the decade if housing targets are to be achieved in the lifetime of the plan.
The President of the SCSI Kevin James said that given the shortage of construction workers, spiralling construction costs and rising interest rates it was vital that Government does everything possible to drive down soft costs.
“Soft costs – items such as utility connection charges, VAT, planning, procurement, and development contributions - make up around half the cost of delivering a new home in Ireland. These are areas Government and local authorities need to focus on if we want to reduce the costs of delivering new homes and bridge the affordability / viability gap which exists at the moment.
In a budget submission which focused largely on the residential property market, the SCSI called for urgent action to be taken to stem the flood of landlords leaving the private rental market. The SCSI also wants to see annual targets set for the renovation of vacant and derelict residential units with sufficient grant funding set aside by the relevant government departments as a way of increasing housing supply.
