417 residential buildings under construction in Mayo

SOME 417 residential buildings were under construction in Mayo in June of this year, according to the latest GeoView Residential Buildings Report published by GeoDirectory and EY Economic Advisory.

Over half of the residential buildings under construction in Ireland in June 2021 were located in the Leinster region (58.4%). The greater Dublin area of Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow accounted for 35.6% of the total number of properties being built. In contrast, the lowest levels of construction activity were recorded in Ulster (6.5%) and Connaught (10.6%).

A total of 449 new residential addresses in Mayo were added to GeoDirectory’s nationwide database in the 12 months to June 2021.

At 30.8%, the highest proportion of the new residential address points were located in Dublin, followed by Cork (10.8%), Kildare (9.7%) and Meath (5.7%). In percentage terms, Leitrim (219.6%), Carlow (146.5%) and Roscommon (144%) registered the highest year-on-year growth in new address points, albeit from a previously low base.

The report also found that 9.5% of all residential stock in the state are apartments. In total, there were 194,898 apartment address points across the country in June 2021. At 64.8%, the vast majority of apartments were located in Dublin, where one in five residential dwellings is now an apartment.

The vacancy rate in Mayo in June 2021 was 12.0%, higher than the national average of 4.5%. There were 92,135 vacant residential properties in the state in June 2021. This figure remains unchanged from the corresponding period in 2020. In total, 16 out of 26 counties recorded a decline in residential vacancy rates in the 12 months to June 2021.

Dublin, at 1.6%, had lowest vacancy rate in the country despite a slight year-on-year increase of 0.3 percentage points. Leitrim registered the highest vacancy rate at 14.8%, followed by Roscommon (12.3%) and Mayo (12%).

The number of residential property transactions fell in the 12 months to May 2021, down 6.5% on the corresponding figure in 2020. In total, 39,526 residential property transactions took place, of which 18.1% were for new dwellings. Of the national total, Kildare (40.8%) and Meath (39.8%) had the largest proportion of new dwelling transactions.

In Mayo, the average property price was €158,588.

Commenting on the findings of the GeoView Residential Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory, said: “Our data shows that residential construction activity has responded well since Covid-19 restrictions for the sector were lifted in April. There were over 5,000 more residential buildings under construction last month than there was in June 2020.

“Additionally, the GeoDirectory databased recorded over 25,000 new residential address points in the past twelve months. This is still short of the levels of stock needed to ease demand, but the data trends suggest that things are moving in the right direction.”