Irish
Construction and Housing in Ireland Report: CSO says Construction Output up 80% in 5 years - Mortgage debt increased from €33bn in 2000 to €100bn in 2005
By Finfacts Team
Jul 28, 2006, 11:20

The CSO today published a new report on Construction and Housing in Ireland. The report aims to present a comprehensive picture of the Irish construction industry, using statistics compiled by the Central Statistics Office, other producers of construction statistics and administrative data sources. 

Source: CSO

Construction Output up 80% in five years
 

• In 2005, it is estimated that the value of output in the construction industry was almost €32 billion - i.e. 80% higher than the output figure of €17.6 billion in 2000.
   
• Ireland has the highest construction output per capita in Europe at approximately €7,600 in 2005. This is more than double the corresponding figure for the United Kingdom.
   

One eighth of workforce employed in construction

• In the second quarter of 2005, there were 242,000 people employed in the construction industry. Approximately 1 in 8 people (12.6%) employed in Ireland work in construction. This compares with an EU average of less than 8%.
• Of the 258,000 net increase in total persons at work between 2000 and 2005, over 76,000 (or 30%) were in the construction sector.
• It is estimated that there were over 25,000 non-Irish nationals working in the construction sector in the fourth quarter of 2005. They represented about 10% of the total number employed in construction. About 15,000 construction workers are from the former Accession States. 

Housing represents two thirds of total building and construction

• Residential construction accounted for two thirds of total building and construction output in 2005.
• Over 86,000 dwellings units were completed in Ireland in 2005. This compares to less than 50,000 in 2000.
• New dwellings were completed at a rate of 21 units per 1,000 of population in 2005, adding over 5% to existing housing stock in Ireland. This is the highest rate of residential building in the EU.

€100 billion Mortgage Debt

• The total value of mortgage debt increased from €33 billion in 2000 to almost €100 billion in 2005.
• The average size of a new mortgage was €102,000 in 2000 and €200,000 in 2005. In 2000, less than 5% of new mortgages were for more than €200,000 but by 2005 almost half (46.9%) of mortgages taken out exceeded this value.
• The average price of a new house in Ireland was €166,000 in 2000 and just over €272,000 in 2005. The average price of a new apartment increased from €206,000 in 2000 to over €293,000 in 2005. More than a third of all dwellings sold in 2005 cost in excess of €300,000.

Source: CSO

Stamp Duty exceeds €2 billion

• Stamp duty on property transactions amounted to €2 billion in 2005, a three fold increase in the three years since 2002. Three quarters of all revenue raised from stamp duty in 2005 related to property transactions.

Report

SEE ALSO: Irish housing boom may boost public finances to €9bn this year; Government collects average of €100,000 in taxes from the cost of every new housing unit built in State

State of Chassis: Artificial restriction on land supply puts Ireland and UK at bottom of property league in Developed World; Irish urbanisation at 4% is among Europe's lowest