Housing

Land speculation may be driving housing delivery delays, government warned

State research agency has raised concerns over tens of thousands of fully approved apartments yet to break ground

A new state report found that there is a large stock of existing homes ready to be built that are unencumbered by legal challenges

The rising number of property investors sitting on planning permissions for apartments could indicate a new trend of “hoarding and speculative behaviour”, the government has been warned.

A new report by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, the state’s internal research agency, has raised concerns that although more than 75,000 apartments were approved between 2018 and 2021, the number of apartments being built annually has only doubled to 5,000 in the same period.

The ...