Irish housing completions rise 10.4%—
but supply remains uneven.

01 / THE RECOVERY

Third-quarter delivery—
moved higher.

The CSO recorded 26,833 new dwelling completions in the first nine months of 2026, an increase of 10.6% compared with January to September 2025.

Scheme houses accounted for approximately 51% of the quarter’s completions, apartments for 34% and single dwellings for 15%.

The rebound is also visible after adjusting for seasonal patterns. On that basis, total completions rose by 9% between the second and third quarters of 2026. This is a more useful quarter-on-quarter comparison than simply comparing unadjusted totals, because construction delivery can vary during the year.

The figures do not show that construction constraints have disappeared. One quarter cannot establish a durable trend, and the number of homes completed in the final quarter is not yet known.

02 / REGIONAL SUPPLY

Delivery remained—
uneven across Ireland.

Dublin accounted for approximately 37% of all completions in Q3 2026, while the Mid-East—Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow—accounted for approximately 18%.

The Dublin apartment market remains particularly important to the national figures. The region recorded 2,311 apartment completions, approximately two-thirds of the national apartment total. In Dublin City, apartments represented 87% of homes completed during the quarter.

• The West, comprising Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, recorded a 33% annual increase.
• The South-East recorded an increase of 24%.
• The South-West recorded an increase of 22%.
• The Mid-West, including Clare, Limerick and Tipperary, recorded an 8% decline.
• The Border region recorded a 6% decline.

Limerick recorded 236 completions in Q3, including 150 scheme houses, 60 single dwellings and 26 apartments. Westmeath recorded 224 completions, while Laois recorded 160. These are quarterly totals, not measures of the total stock or the number of properties available to rent or buy.

For someone evaluating an opportunity in Limerick, Mullingar or another regional market, the relevant question is how much comparable housing is entering the specific local market, and whether it serves the same tenants or purchasers as the property being assessed.

03 / READING THE DATA

What a completion—
does and does not show.

The CSO bases its completion statistics on new domestic electricity connections and makes adjustments for reconnections, non-dwellings and certain previously finished properties. This provides a consistent national measure, but it is not a count of homes advertised for sale or available for private rent.

A completed home may be sold to an owner-occupier, retained by an institutional owner, delivered as social or cost-rental housing, or enter another form of tenure. The headline completion total therefore cannot establish how many additional properties are competing in a particular private rental market.

Equally, a development completed within a local authority may be concentrated in one town or neighbourhood. A new apartment block near a transport hub may have a different effect on local competition from a scheme of family houses several kilometres away.

Zanoris analysis: investors should treat completion data as the starting point for local investigation. The next steps are to identify the developments, their likely tenure, the type of household they serve and the dates on which they become available.

04 / LOCAL SUPPLY TEST

A practical method—
for landlords.

An owner considering a purchase can examine supply at three levels.

First, assess completed stock: how many directly comparable properties have recently entered the area? Compare location, size, energy rating, parking, transport and price—not just the overall number of homes.

Second, assess the near-term pipeline. Projects under construction may become competitors during the first years of ownership. Planning permission and commencements, however, do not guarantee that a development will proceed or arrive on schedule.

Third, compare supply with the depth of local demand. Employment, transport links, household formation and affordability can influence whether additional homes relieve a shortage quickly or are absorbed over time.

For example, a landlord assessing a two-bedroom apartment near an employment centre should examine comparable two-bedroom apartments entering that neighbourhood. A county-wide total that includes one-off houses may be less relevant to the property’s immediate letting prospects.

The purpose is not to predict a rent reduction or increase. It is to test whether an acquisition remains workable if comparable supply grows and tenants have more choice.

05 / THE PIPELINE

Delivery still depends—
on future construction.

In its Q3 2026 Quarterly Bulletin, the Central Bank of Ireland forecast approximately 39,500 housing completions for 2026, followed by 41,000 in 2027 and 45,000 in 2028. Those forecasts were conditional on improvements in enabling infrastructure.

The Central Bank also cautioned that the timing of commencements and delivery could make projections difficult to achieve without further improvement in construction starts and building times. Forecasts are not targets or guarantees; the final 2026 outcome will depend on the as-yet-unreported fourth quarter.

The first nine months produced 26,833 completions. Reaching the Central Bank’s 39,500 forecast would require 12,667 completions in Q4. That is a calculation, not a prediction. For context, the CSO recorded 11,959 completions in Q4 2025.

This comparison highlights both the importance of the final quarter and the uncertainty in extrapolating a full-year result from nine months of data.

06 / INVESTOR RESPONSE

What this means for—
investors and landlords.

1. 01

   Assess supply locally. A national increase can coexist with falling completions in the Mid-West or Border region.

2. 02

   Compare like with like. New scheme houses and apartments may serve different households and compete with different existing properties.

3. 03

   Identify tenure where possible. Completion figures alone do not show how many homes enter the private rental market.

4. 04

   Stress-test occupancy and rent. Model the property with a vacancy period and slower rent growth; include maintenance, management, insurance and financing costs.

5. 05

   Separate completed homes from the pipeline. Permissions and commencements provide useful context, but delivery dates and eventual completion remain uncertain.

07 / THE ZANORIS VIEW

Supply is always—
a local question.

The third-quarter improvement is encouraging evidence that Ireland can deliver more homes than it did in the corresponding period of 2025. It is also a reminder that supply is not a single national number: location and dwelling type determine how new construction affects an individual asset.

For investors, rising delivery should neither be treated automatically as a threat nor assumed to resolve local shortages. New supply can broaden housing choice and improve the quality of the available stock. At the same time, an owner who has paid too much or relied on uninterrupted rent growth may be more exposed when comparable properties enter the market.

In our view, the most resilient property case combines a realistic acquisition price, lawful and supportable income assumptions, adequate operating reserves and evidence of durable local demand. The latest CSO release helps frame that assessment; it does not replace property-level due diligence.

For owners, landlords and market entrants reviewing an opportunity, Zanoris welcomes a thoughtful conversation about local supply, operating assumptions and long-term property strategy.