There were 8,939 new dwelling completions in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024, an increase of 6.3% on the same three months of 2023.
There were 4,489 scheme dwelling completions in Q3 2024, up 23.2% from Q3 2023.
Apartment completions fell 7.2% in the 12 months to Q3 2024, to 3,096, while single dwellings were down 5.3% to 1,354 in Q3 2024.
Over half (50.2%) of completions in Q3 2024 were scheme dwellings, 34.6% were apartments, and 15.1% were single dwellings.
There was a rise in completions from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024 for five of the eight regions of Ireland, including a 53.7% rise in the South-East, while decreases occurred in the Border, West, and Mid-East.
By Local Electoral Area (LEA), the most completions in Q3 2024 were in Clondalkin with 622.
There has been a rise of 25.0% in seasonally adjusted new dwelling completions from Q2 2024 to Q3 2024.
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 2023 | 1,430 | 3,644 | 3,337 | 8,411 |
| Quarter 3 2024 | 1,354 | 4,489 | 3,096 | 8,939 |
| % change | -5.3% | 23.2% | -7.2% | 6.3% |
There were 8,939 new dwelling completions in the third quarter of 2024, a rise of 6.3% from the same quarter in 2023. By dwelling type, scheme housing drove the quarterly increase, recording a rise of 23.2% from 3,644 scheme completions in Q3 2023 to 4,489 in Q3 2024.
The Q3 data for 2024 also shows that:
The primary data source used for the New Dwellings Completions series is ESB Networks' new domestic connections dataset, where the date that the connection is energised 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.
The ESB connections data - with adjustments as detailed above - is the most consistent manner of measuring housing completions with connections made in the same way by one organisation, ESB Networks, across the country. No other currently available sources have this same level of consistency nor accuracy in identifying numbers of individual units.
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 403 new bed spaces were completed in Q3 2024.
In Q3 2024 the number of completions in urban areas was 7,722, increasing 6.7% from 7,235 in Q2 2024. In rural areas, the number of completions rose by 3.5%, with 1,217 in Q3 2024, up from 1,176 in Q3 2023. Of all completions in the quarter, 86.4% were in urban areas (See Table 2).
Five of the eight regions of Ireland saw a rise in completions from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024, with a decrease in the other three regions.
The largest relative increase was in the South-East at 53.7% - with rises also in the Mid-West (45.8%), South-West (33.5%), Midlands (17.4%), and Dublin (4.7%) regions. Decreases occurred in the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wicklow) at 20.7%, the West (Galway City, Galway County, Mayo, Roscommon) at 14.7%, and 7.5% in the Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo) regions.
More than four in ten (41.7%) completions in Q3 2024 were in Dublin, with a further 15.8% completions in the Mid-East (Louth, Meath, Kildare, Wicklow) in Q3 2024 (See Figure 2).
More than three-quarters (78.5%) of apartment completions in Q3 2024 were in Dublin (2,459). In Dublin City, 94.8% of completions in the quarter were apartments.
Cork County was the local authority with the most scheme completions (522). The West region (Galway City, Galway County, Mayo, Roscommon) had the most single completions in Q3 2024 (214), with Cork County (137) the local authority with the most one-off dwelling completions (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 remain unchanged.
The most completions by Local Electoral Area (LEA) in Q3 2024 was in Clondalkin (622). Limerick City East and Drogheda Rural were the only LEAs outside of Dublin in the top ten Local Electoral Areas with the most completions this quarter (See Map 1).
New dwelling completions by LEA going back to 2012 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. Data is also available for new dwelling completions by Dwelling Type and Urban Area by year and quarter in tables NDA12 and NDQ10. Urban Area (also known as Built Up Area) is a new geography created for Census 2022 which defines urban boundaries.
There was a total of 9,426 new domestic ESB connections in Q3 2024, an increase of 4.2% from 9,047 in Q3 2023. The ESB domestic connections series continues to show a comparable trend to the New Dwelling Completions (NDC) series compiled by the CSO as shown in Figure 3. The number of new dwelling completions as a percentage of total ESB domestic connections continues to increase, standing at 94.8% this quarter, which is the highest seen since the series began.
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 4 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 is here considered to be a reconnection. There were 317 reconnections in Q3 2024, a decrease of 24.2% from 418 in Q3 2023. This fall in reconnections after two years reflects the decline in Non-Payment of Account Disconnections since 2019 reported by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.
The number of previously finished dwellings in unfinished housing developments (UFHDs) is still very low with 21 in Q3 2024. The number of non-dwellings - mostly farm buildings - fell 12.4% from 170 in Q3 2023 to 149 in this quarter. UFHDs accounted for just 0.2% of all connections this quarter (See Figure 4 and Table 4).
The highest number of reconnections in Q3 2024 was in the Border region (61) followed by 59 in the West. Non-dwelling connections were highest in the Border and West regions, both at 28. The highest number of UFHDs connections was in the Border region (6). Dublin had the highest proportion of connections also being new dwelling completions (98.8%) with the Border region having the lowest (80.6%) (See Table 5).
The average new dwelling size index over the first three quarters of 2024 stood at 72, an increase from 71 in 2023. In general, the decrease in this index since 2016 is driven by both an increase in the proportion of completed dwellings which were apartments and a general decrease in the size of dwellings, particularly single dwellings (See Table 6). The average new dwelling size index is obtained by linking ESB connections to BER assessment data from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) for new dwelling completions (See Table 7 in Background Notes for match rates).
A seasonal adjustment has been applied to the new dwelling completions to show an additional measure of change over time. This allows for a quarter-on-quarter comparison. See Background Notes for more detail on the seasonal adjustment.
For all house types, there has been a 25.0% rise in seasonally adjusted completions from 6,967 in Q2 2024 to 8,709 in Q3 2024. For apartment completions there has been a larger increase of 42.7% from 1,936 in Q2 2024 to 2,763 in Q3 2024. There has been a 25.3% increase for scheme dwellings, 3,692 to 4,627, with a 1.4% fall for single dwellings, 1,338 to 1,319. (See Figure 6).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (24 October 2024) released New Dwelling Completions Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024. The CSO uses new connections to the electricity network as the basis for statistics on new dwelling completions, a data source that is collected nationally by one organisation in a consistent manner for all dwellings (See Background Notes for more information).
Commenting on the release, Steven Conroy, Statistician, said: “The number of new dwelling completions in July, August, and September (Q3) 2024 was 8,939. This was an increase of 6.3% from Q3 2023.
Completions by Dwelling Type
Scheme completions rose 23.2% from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024 to stand at 4,489 this quarter and accounted for more than half (50.2%) of all completions. There were 3,096 apartment completions in Q3 2024, which was down 7.2% on the same quarter in 2023. Single dwellings fell 5.3% from 1,430 in Q3 2023 to 1,354 in Q3 2024.
More than half of all completions in Q3 2024 (50.2%) were scheme dwellings, 34.6% were apartments, and 15.1% were single dwellings.
Regional Breakdown
Five of the eight regions of Ireland saw a rise in completions from Q3 2023 to Q3 2024. The region with the largest relative increase in completions at 53.7% was the South-East (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford), followed by the Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, Tipperary) at 45.8%. Completions rose by 33.5% in the South-West (Cork City, Cork County, Kerry), by 17.4% in the Midlands (Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath) and by 4.8% in Dublin.
The Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wicklow) (-20.7%), West (Galway City, Galway County, Mayo, Roscommon) (-14.7%) and Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo) (-7.5%) regions all saw decreases over the same period.
More than three-quarters (78.5%) of apartment completions in Q3 2024 were in Dublin. In Dublin City, 94.8% of completions in this quarter were apartments. The most scheme completions were in Dublin while the West (Galway City, Galway County, Mayo, Roscommon) had the most single completions in Q3 2024.
The most completions in Q3 2024 by Local Electoral Area (LEA) were in Clondalkin (622), followed by Tallaght Central (393)."