Initiative Ireland calls for new homes to reflect housing demand

New property developments need to reflect the type of buyer demand more closely, Initiative Ireland warns.

Analysis by the Irish peer-to-peer property lending platform found there is a 52 per cent shortfall in housing supply relative to demand.

Its new report found lower-income families remain locked out of the property market, especially within the Dublin area where households on the average income of €65,400 (£55,680) accessed fewer than seven per cent of new homes built and 8.5 per cent of existing stock.

Homebuyers have also gone from accounting for 62 per cent of sales to 54 per cent over the past five years, the platform claims,  with increasing sales to institutional buyers.

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But the platform remains optimistic and forecasts that 2021 will see delivery of 24,000 new homes by the end of the year, up 15 per cent from 2020 due to the high volume of developments and completion outstanding since the outbreak of the pandemic.

“As a sustainable lender, we believe it is vital that we build and share a clear understanding of the market,” Padraig Rushe, chief executive of  Initiative Ireland, said.

“We want to encourage an increase in housing supply and finance and we will play a key part in that delivery, but we also want to ensure all parties track and monitor the market to align supply with actual demand on the ground.”

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