Housing development saw an “acceleration” during 2025 with construction levels up 25.5% at the end of the year and just under 28,000 new residential buildings under construction in December, a new report from Geodirectory shows.
After a disappointing 2024 in terms of housing completions, with just just over 30,000 new homes completed over the course of the year, the residential construction sector had a much better 2025. However, the Government’s target of 300,000 new homes by 2030 is still a way off.
According to the latest Geodirectory Residential Buildings for the final three months of 2025, prepared by professional services firm EY, there were 35,056 new residential address points added to its database throughout the year, representing a 1.1% increase year-on-year.
Over half, 51.5%, of these new address points were located in the greater Dublin area which includes Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. The smallest proportion of additions were made in Leitrim, with 105 new address points, Longford at 119, and Carlow at 146.
There were 27,931 residential buildings classified as under construction in December 2025, a 25.5% increase compared to the same month the year prior.
The highest concentration of residential development activity was in Dublin with just over 5,000 buildings under construction. The next highest was Cork with 3,668 buildings and Kildare with 2,075 buildings.
Chief executive of GeoDirectory, Dara Keogh, said 2025 saw an “acceleration in residential construction activity, which was over 25% higher than what was recorded in 2024”.
“Delivering this new supply pipeline to the market in 2026 should be a priority for the sector, as low vacancy rates combined with increased demand continues to drive the average property price upwards.”
The national vacancy rate stood at 3.7% during the fourth quarter of 2025.
In total, 79,703 residential units were classified as vacant by GeoDirectory in December while 19,438 were recorded as derelict units.
Dublin had the lowest rate of 1.2% and Leitrim had the highest at 11.7%.
The highest proportion of derelict units were found in Mayo at 14.1% of the national total.
The number of residential property transactions fell by 2.1% in the 12 months to the end of November with 47,847 properties purchased across Ireland during this period. Of that total, 23% were new builds.
The average house price rose in all counties in the year to the end of November with the national average up 6.6% to €427,937.
Residential property prices were the highest in Dublin at an average of €588,649, followed by Wicklow at €501,881, and Kildare at €443,164.
The lowest average house prices were recorded in Longford at €206,583, Donegal at €215,554 and Leitrim at €218,507.
