Housing

State’s poor track record on how to count houses adds to difficulty in resolving crisis

Concern that housing figures are being ‘politicised’ and ‘selectively released’ after the controversy over the delay in the publication of eviction notices

The CSO, CIS, Central Bank and Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland disagree on how many homes were built in 2022. Picture: Getty

Six years ago, there was a debate in Ireland over how we should count houses.

The Department of Housing, then led by Simon Coveney, used new connections to the electricity grid to count how many homes were built each year. It was a rather imperfect metric.

The approach inconveniently gave a false reading because in addition to new-build homes, it also captured old homes that were reconnected to the grid.

Lorcan Sirr and Mel Reynolds, ...