Hundreds of new homes being built in Laois as completions jump

Hundreds of new homes are being built in Laois and there was a big jump in the number of new residential addresses in the county according to a new report.

A total of 732 residential buildings were under construction in Laois in December 2022, according to the latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report. More new homes are being built in Laois than in neighbouring Offaly, Carlow, Tipperary or Kilkenny. 

The study of residential property data, also analyses commencements in the 121 months to November 2022. Laois accounted for 568 of new starts out of nearly 27,000 nationally. 

The report which was prepared in association with EY, also found that in the twelve months to December 2022, 632 new residential address points were added to the GeoDirectory database in Laois. That represents an increase of 82% compared to the corresponding period in December 2021.  

There were more new additions in Laois than neighbouring counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Offaly and Tipperary. At 2,716 Kildare had the third highest number of additions in Ireland.

The residential vacancy rate in Laois was 3.4% in December 2022, which was lower than the national average of 4.0%. The report also shows that Laois had a dereliction rate of just 1.2% one of the lowest in Ireland.

As for transactions, a total of 822 properties change hands to November  2022. Of these, 12.4% were new dwellings. The average price was nearly €238,000 which is below the national average excluding Dublin of nearly €282,500.

The report also analyses rents. The average monthly €1,112.

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Nationally, the report found that of the 22,008 residential buildings under construction nationally in December 2022, almost one-in-five (18.4%) were located in Dublin. Construction activity in Kildare accounted for 13.9% of the overall total. 62.0% of all residential buildings under construction were located in the Leinster region.  

In Cork, 2,393 residential buildings were under construction in December 2022, representing 10.9% of the national total, with the remaining counties of Munster bringing the percentage share to 21.9%. Residential construction activity was considerably lower in the Connacht and Ulster counties, accounting for 9.5% and 6.7% of the national total respectively. 

A total of 28,510 residential address points were added to the GeoDirectory database. Over half (52.8%) of the new residential address points were located in the Greater Dublin Area of Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.  

The highest year-on-year increases in terms of new residential address points were recorded in Sligo, which was up 150% in twelve months, followed by Tipperary (+ 101.0%) and Louth (93.0%).  

The national average vacancy rate dropped 0.4 percentage points to 4.0% in December 2022, the lowest figure recorded by GeoDirectory to date. The highest residential vacancy rates were located in the west of the country, with Leitrim (12.2%), Mayo (11.2%) and Roscommon (10.7%) all recording residential vacancy rates of over 10.0%.  

At 1.2%, Dublin recorded the lowest residential vacancy rate in the country in December 2022, with counties within the capital’s commuter belt all registering notably low vacancy rates, Kildare (1.3%), Louth (2.3%) and Meath (2.4%).  

The GeoDirectory Residential Buildings report also found that the number of derelict residential address points fell by 4.8% in the twelve months to December 2022. In total, there were 21,481 derelict units identified nationwide, with the highest proportion found in counties along the west coast, Mayo (13.5%), Donegal (11.9%) and Galway (8.7%).  

The national average residential property price increased by 9.5% to €352,083 in the twelve months to October 2022, with the average price rising in every county.   

The average cost of residential property in Dublin was €526,910, while Longford was the county with the lowest average price (€162,990). When Dublin is excluded from the study, the national average house price falls to €270,855.  

A total of 47,716 residential properties were purchased across Ireland in the 12 months to October 2022, an increase of 3,606 transactions on the previous year. Almost one-in-five of all residential property transactions in the state involved a new dwelling (18.2%), with the highest proportion of new dwellings were purchased in Kildare (43.5%), Meath (36.6%) and Wicklow (34.8%).  

Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory commented on the latest report.

“The data shows that construction activity and supply of housing stock increased significantly in 2022, but it is still lagging well behind the current rate of demand. The number of residential buildings under construction and additions to the housing stock over the past twelve months would indicate that the sector has moved past the disruption brought about by Covid-19. 

Annette Hughes, Director of EY Economic Advisory Services said, “At a national level, the residential vacancy rate of 4.0% is the lowest recorded by GeoDirectory to date. However, this figure highlights a national imbalance of low vacancy rates and high demand in Dublin and surrounding counties, contrasted by considerably higher vacancy rates in the west of the country,” he said.

GeoDirectory was jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) to create and manage Ireland’s only complete database of commercial and residential buildings. The figures are recorded through a combination of the An Post network of 5,600 delivery staff working with OSi.    

The GeoDirectory database is used by many different companies and organisations across a diverse range of applications. Its database and services are used by the Central Statistics Office to achieve more accurate census results.    

In the property sector, GeoDirectory is used by Daft.ie and the Property Registration Authority. In addition, utility companies, banking and insurance providers, and all local authorities use the database.