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Residential development commencements jumped threefold in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period last year.

The figures, compiled by Deloitte, also show a two-fold increase in the number of residential developments that commenced versus the first quarter of this year as pent up demand began to be released.

“The large increase in residential commencements is no doubt due to the limited activity resulting from Covid-19 restrictions over the last year and a half,” said John Doddy, Partner, Deloitte Real Estate Advisory.

“It is in stark contrast to pre-pandemic commencement levels, representing on average a 30% increase on the 2019 quarterly average.”

But Mr Doddy added that the figures likely to have been somewhat inflated by the number of sites that were ready to go once construction reopened in May.

Commencement notices for 108 schemes representing 9,965 units were lodged in the second quarter, up from 57 schemes and 5,939 units in the first quarter.

Planning permission was granted for 102 schemes made up of 11,438 units, up from 95 schemes 11,274 units between January and March.

Applications were submitted for 159 schemes with 13,967 units.

Of the 159, 24% were in Dublin, 33% in the rest of Leinster, with the remaining 43% in the rest of Ireland.

The average time for residential schemes to secure planning permission was 208 days for schemes that obtained planning permission in the second quarter of 2021, up from 193 days in the same period of 2020.

The data on applications and commencements also shows that in relation to the commercial market, there has been a notable drop in the supply of new office stock coming on stream.

Planning permission was granted for just 10 developments, compared to 12 in the previous quarter.

While five commencement notices were lodged in the quarter, compared to four in the same quarter last year.

“This reduction in applications and commencements of new office development will have a knock-on effect on supply over both the short and medium term, due to the illiquidity in delivery of stock to market,” said Mr Doddy.

“While there remains a focus on Dublin for office development, there is now a 50% split between ‘Dublin/Leinster’ and the ‘Rest of Ireland’, which signals growing confidence in the regional occupational office market.”

Article Source – Big jump in residential commencements in second quarter – RTE – Will Goodbody

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