The share of new-build homes being sold to private buyers has fallen sharply in the past decade, with only one-third of all new supply now being made available on the open market, according to new research.
Annual home completions countrywide have risen from 20,000 to more than 36,000 in the past six years. But fresh research by estate agent Sherry FitzGerald has shown the private market has recorded only a small uplift in supply relative to the overall growth.
Dr Lorcan Sirr , a senior lecturer in housing at TU Dublin, has warned that the long-term trend will have “significant impacts” on homeownership rates in the Republic, which has declined from 70 per cent in 2011 to 66 per cent, according to Census 2022.
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Jean Behan, head of research at Sherry FitzGerald, said between 2020 and 2025 an average of 33 per cent of new homes were bought by private households, compared to an average of 57 per cent in the previous six-year period.
The estate agency’s analysis, which tracked annual completions against new homes transactions by household purchasers, showed that out of the 36,246 new completions in 2025, some 12,135 were sold to households.
The share of new homes being sold on the open market hit a 15-year low in 2023 when only 29 per cent of 32,473 new builds were sold on the open market.
Data from the Central Statistics Office has shown non-household entities, including investment funds and State-backed housing charities and county councils that purchase homes for social and affordable housing, have grown to command close to half of all sales.
The remaining share of new residential stock each year is typically one-off houses, which have accounted for a fifth on average of all new-build homes over the past six years.
Sirr said actions of the State and private investors in the housing market have led to “a decreasing proportion of new homes coming to the market each year”.
Behan said the housing market has consistently shown shortages across all segments, which has resulted in strong upward pressure on prices and rents.
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“We need to see significantly stronger levels of supply across all tenures and in all regions to help meet demand requirements.”
Last year, the Government’s new housing initiative outlined plans focused on promoting homeownership, which has been trending downwards based on recent censuses.
It pledged to deliver more than 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030, with some 90,000 of the supply earmarked as “starter homes”, which would be 30 per cent of all new stock.
Sirr said the decline in the proportion of new homes available on the open market for households would cause home ownership rates to decline further and lead to societal pressures.
“This has significant impacts on rates of homeownership and helps drive people into the private rental sector, where we know the vast majority of renters do not want to be,” he said.
“It has spatial implications as those seeking new homes to buy have to move further away from their workplaces and end up in long commutes, leading to extra household expense, poorer health and social outcomes and ever more congested roads and traffic jams.”
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