There were further improvements in house completions and commencements at the end of 2015 according to the latest statistics from the Department of the Environment.
On the former, there were a total of 1,352 completions in December, bringing the total for the year to 12,666, an increase of 15% yoy and in line with our forecasts.
On a regional basis 4,585 or 36% of these were in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA).
Furthermore, housing commencements also improved at the end of last year. December saw 364 commencement notices bringing the total for 2015 to 8,102, an increase of 5% over 2014.
This is similar to the 4.9% yoy growth seen in the year to November which followed 10 months of yoy contraction as the distortion caused by tightening building regulations in early 2014 washed through. Within the total, 39% are "one-offs", a reduction from 47% in 2014.
According to Goodbody Stockbrokers, "While the improving trends are welcome, they remain insufficient to meet our medium term requirement of c.30k house per annum meaning that the current short supply is set to deteriorate."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
