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There were 7,544 new dwelling completions in July, August and September (Q3) 2022, up 62.5% from Q3 2021.
Over the first three quarters of 2022, completions stood at 20,807, which was greater than the total for the whole of 2021 (20,560).
Apartment completions increased by 153.4% from the same quarter last year to 2,445 in Q3 2022, with scheme dwellings rising 44.3% to 3,569 and single dwellings up 27.1% to 1,530.
Close to half (47.3%) of completions in Q3 2022 were scheme dwellings, while just under a third (32.4%) were apartments and 20.3% were single dwellings.
Completions increased by more than 30% in all regions of Ireland from Q3 2021, with a 112.8% increase in Dublin.
More than one in eight single dwellings were in Cork City or County.
By Local Electoral Area, the most completions in the quarter were in North Inner-City Dublin (276), Lucan (269) and Swords (199).
Single dwellings are one-off dwellings connected to the ESB network.
Scheme dwellings are houses that form part of a multi-unit development of two or more houses connected to the ESB network.
Apartment dwellings are within a multi-unit development and are specifically identified by the ESB as apartments.
| New Dwelling Completions | ||||
| Single | Scheme | Apartment | Totals | |
| Quarter 3 2021 | 1,204 | 2,474 | 965 | 4,643 |
| Quarter 3 2022 | 1,530 | 3,569 | 2,445 | 7,544 |
| % change | 27.1% | 44.3% | 153.4% | 62.5% |
There were 7,544 new dwelling completions in Q3 2022, an increase of 62.5% from 4,643 completions in Q3 2021. This is the most completions seen in any third quarter since the series began in 2011.
The Q3 data for 2022 also shows that:
The primary data source used for the New Dwellings Completions series is the ESB Networks new domestic connections dataset, where the date that the connection is energized determines the date of completion. It is accepted that the ESB domestic connections dataset is overestimating new dwellings and the CSO has adjusted for this overcount by using additional information from the ESB and other data sources.
ESB connections are classified into four categories: new dwelling completions, UFHDs (previously finished houses in Unfinished Housing Developments), reconnections and non-dwellings. The dwelling type (single, scheme, apartment) and urban-rural divide are defined by the ESB Network. See Background Notes for a more detailed discussion of the classification.
The New Dwelling Completions series is based on the number of domestic dwellings connected by the ESB Network to the electricity supply and may not accord precisely with geographical boundaries.
The CSO has utilised other available data sources to validate and enhance the ESB connections dataset. However, this was only possible where the connections dataset could be confidently linked to another dataset using unique identifiers or by address matching. As the level of Eircode collection, coverage and storage increases across data sources in the housing sector, it is expected that the precision of estimates on new dwelling completions can be further enhanced.
There has been a significant level of construction output in the student accommodation sector. These are generally connected to the ESB Network as commercial connections and are therefore not included in the ESB domestic connections dataset used for the new dwelling completions. Further to this the data available on this sector is on a “bed space” basis and it is not currently possible to report on it as dwellings, which are self-contained units of living accommodation. Based on consultation with stakeholders in this sector, student accommodation may be included in future New Dwelling Completions reports as a separate category. Information on completed student bed spaces is provided by the Higher Education Authority (HEA). They have detailed to the CSO that there were 16 bed spaces completed in Q1 2022, zero completed in Q2 2022 and 1,225 completed in Q3 2022. Total completed bed spaces since Q2 2016 stand at 13,390.
The ESB domestic connections dataset provides information on the type of connection and whether it is in an urban or rural area. In Q3 2022 the number of completions in urban areas rose 73.2% from 3,599 to 6,232 in Q3 2021. In rural areas, there was an increase of 25.7% from 1,044 in Q3 2021 to 1,312 this quarter. Of all completions this quarter, 82.6% were in urban areas. See Table 2.
In all eight regions of Ireland there were increases of over 30% in completions from Q3 2021 to this quarter. Completions more than doubled in Dublin, up 112.8% from 1,236 in Q3 2021 to 2,630 in Q3 2022. There was also a rise of more than 50% in the Border (66.7%), the South-West (54.8%), and the Midlands (50.9%). The lowest increase was in the South-East (31.2%). See Figure 2.
Over four-fifths of apartment completions this quarter (80.1%) were in either Dublin or the Mid-East, and over a half (57.8%) of scheme completions were in these two regions. Of all completions in Dublin this quarter, 63.6% were apartments. In Dublin City, 93.6% of all completions were apartments with close to a half (47.6% - 1,163) of all apartment completions being in this local authority.
The Mid-East region had the highest number of scheme dwellings this quarter with Kildare being the local authority with the most scheme completions (538). The South-West region had the highest number of single dwelling completions in Q3 2022 (278) while over a half (56.5%) of all completions in the Border region were single dwellings. The local authority with the highest number of single completions was Cork County (188). See Table 3.
Classification into local authorities has taken into account boundary changes between Cork City and Cork County which came into effect in May 2019. All historical data within the tables below and the PxStat interactive tables have been revised to now be based on the new boundaries. However, data within archived releases have stayed as is.
The most completions by Local Electoral Area (LEA) in Q3 2022 was in North Inner City Dublin (276) followed by Lucan (269) and Swords (199). Outside of Dublin the LEA with the highest number of completions was in Newbridge (189) and the highest outside of Dublin or Kildare was Cobh (153) with this the only LEA outside these two counties in the top ten. See Figure 3.
New dwelling completions by LEA going back to the start of the series in 2011 by year and quarter can be viewed in the PxStat tables NDA05 and NDQ09. There is also data available by Eircode Routing Key by year and quarter in PxStat tables NDA01 and NDQ07.
The total number of domestic ESB connections in Q3 2022 was 8,491. This is an increase of 49.2% on the 5,690 connections in Q3 2021. The ESB domestic connections series continues to show a comparable trend to the NDC series compiled by the CSO as shown in Figure 4. The number of new dwelling completions as a percentage of total ESB domestic connections was 88.8% this quarter.
There are still some small differences in volume between the two series. The starting point for the NDC series is the ESB domestic connections dataset, with adjustments made to account for previously finished houses in unfinished housing developments (UFHDs), reconnections and non-dwellings as shown in Figure 5 and Table 4.
A property that is reconnected to the ESB Network after having been disconnected for more than two years is assigned a new Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) and is therefore included in the ESB new connections datasets and here considered to be a reconnection. There were 624 reconnections in Q3 2022, a decrease of 5.0% from 657 in Q3 2021.
The number of previously finished dwellings in unfinished housing developments (UFHDs) and non-dwellings - mostly farm buildings - dropped also from Q3 2021 by 26.2% and 12.9% respectively. UFHDs accounted for just 1.1% of all connections this quarter. In Q3 2014, UFHDs accounted for 24.4% of connections. See Figure 5 and Table 4.
The highest number of reconnections in Q3 2022 was in the South-West region (108) followed by 100 in the West. Non-dwellings were highest in the West (41) with the Border region having the highest number of UFHDs (36). Dublin had the highest proportion of connections being new dwelling completions (97.5%) with the Border region having the lowest (72.9%). See Table 5
Figure 6 shows that the average new dwelling size is continuing to gradually fall year on year. The decline in the average new dwelling size index - to 75 for the first three quarters of 2022 - sees it fall to three-quarters of the 2016 base index of 100. This decrease is driven by both an increase in the proportion of completed dwellings being apartments and a decrease in the size of single dwellings (see Table 6). The average new dwelling size index is obtained by linking ESB connections to BER assessment data from the SEAI for new dwelling completions (see Table 7 in Background Notes for match rates).
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the release, Justin Anderson, Statistician, said: “The number of new dwelling completions in July, August and September (Q3) 2022 was 7,544, a rise of 62.5% from the same quarter in 2021. The number of new dwelling completions for the first three quarters of 2022 was 20,807, which is more than was seen for the whole of 2021 (20,560) or any other year since the series began in 2011.
Completions by Dwelling Type
The most noticeable increase in completions since the third quarter of 2021 has been in the apartment sector. The number of apartment completions rose by 153.4% to 2,445. There has also been a 44.3% increase in scheme dwellings, up to 3,569, with single dwellings increasing 27.1% to 1,530. Of all completions in Q3 2022, 47.3% were scheme, 32.4% were apartments, and 20.3% were single dwellings.
Regional Breakdown
All eight regions of Ireland saw a year-on-year increase in completions of more than 30%. Completions in Dublin rose by 112.8% with an increase of more than 50% in the Border, Midlands, and South-West regions. More than two-thirds of all apartment completions were in Dublin (68.4%) and more than half (57.8%) of all scheme completions were in Dublin or the Mid-East region. The South-West region had the highest number of single dwelling completions, with 18.2% of the national total, with Cork City and County accounting for 13.4% alone.
North Inner-City Dublin was the Local Electoral Area (LEA) with the most completions this quarter with 276. Newbridge (189), Naas (166) and Cobh (153) were the LEAs outside of Dublin with the highest completions.”