New lease of life for city’s residential building sector

A new lease of life is being breathed into Galway’s ailing residential construction sector, with activity in the first eight months of the year up more than 40% on the same period in 2013.

Work got underway on almost 300 new homes in the city and county between January and August – seen as a boon for the troubled construction and property sectors here.

The latest ‘National Housing Construction Index’ compiled by researchers at Link2Plans.com measures construction activity through planning applications and Commencement Notices submitted to the City and County Councils. Commencement Notices are submitted when construction work is about to begin on a permitted project.

There were 284 commencements in the first eight months of the year in Galway – up 42% from the 200 recorded in the same period in 2013.

Danny O’Shea, Managing Director of Link2Plans said: “The 42% year-on-year increase in project commencements for Galway is an extremely strong result and is good news for the residential construction sector.”

Nationally, the average increase in commencements was 40%. The highest rates of increase were in Monaghan (115%), Cork (70%), Westmeath and Donegal (both 63%) and Sligo and Mayo (both 60%).

There were decreases in activity recorded in Longford (-20%), Roscommon and Leitrim (-3%).

Planning applications to both local authorities in Galway increased by 5%, from 424 to 447. The national average increase was 12%.

The highest rates of increases for applications were in Dublin at 35%, followed by Meath (32%), Wicklow (31%) and Kerry (26%).

The biggest drops were in Leitrim (-28%), Donegal (-20%) and Laois (-9%). The national increase was 12%.