House starts declined by 73% between 2024 and 2025
Housing commencements saw a significant year-on-year decline in 2025, with a total of 16,412 new home starts last year, a fall of 72.8% compared to the 60,242 in 2024.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage said the spike in 2024 was caused by initiatives such as the development levy waiver and the Úisce Éireann rebate which led to projects being fast-tracked towards commencement.
The Government has a goal of delivering 300,000 new homes by 2030.
Between 2021 and the end of 2025, there were more than 176,206 new homes commenced in total.
December saw the highest number of new starts in 2025, with 3,065 units commenced, double the 1,533 recorded in November, and considerably higher than the second-highest month, September, which saw 1,656 homes commenced.
In a statement, Minister for Housing James Browne said the increase in commencements in December was "very encouraging" and signaled an "uptick in confidence in the construction sector".
The department also announced that monthly commencement data in 2026 would include how many commencements intend to use modern methods of construction (MMC).
MMC is a term used by the Government to describe new and faster techniques to build homes.
