Record number of new homes commenced across Cavan

Twelve times more houses being built than a decade ago

Last year saw building start on a record number of new homes in County Cavan, according to newly published construction data.

In 2024 'Commencement Notices' were issued for 521 homes in the county, over double the number compared to 2023 (249).

Construction, meanwhile, started on 32 new homes during the month of December in Cavan, the highest number for the final month of the year since records began.

The end of year commencement totals also show that there are 12 times more (521) houses being built in Cavan than a decade ago (42 in 2014).

The 2024 figures however received an unprecedented boost in April, when 276 residential property 'Commencement Notices' were recorded.

The large jump is being attributed largely to the development levy waiver introduced.

In April 2023, the Government brought in a temporary waiver of 'section 48' development contributions and the refunding of Uisce Éireann water and waste water connection charges in a move to reduce housing construction costs and boost supply. The waiver remained in place until the end of 2024.

Without the April boost, residential construction starts for the Breffni County would have been slightly below (245) 2023's overall tally when the number of commencement notices across the 12 months was more steady and consistent, with numbers not falling into single digits except for one month - December (6).

While commencement notice numbers slacked locally in June (3) and July (4) in 2024, a strong start (231 Q1) and end (107 Q4) more than made up for it.

By comparison, 10 years ago painted an altogether bleaker picture within the residential construction market.

Still emerging from the devastating crash of six years earlier, in 2014 just 42 commencement notices issued, and while that figure doubled the following year, it more or less remained static until 2019 (159), before picking up again in 2021 (260).

A total of 331 new homes commenced in neighbouring County Monaghan, meanwhile, in 2024.

Robust

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien said that the published data indicates a “robust stock of new housing is in the pipeline”.

“This significant rise in housing supply will enable more people to become homeowners and also help increase access to a wider range of secure housing options,” he added, pointing to where nationally, from January and December 2024, there were 60,243 new homes commenced, up 84% from the 32,801 recorded in 2023.

This equates, on average, to 239 new homes commenced every working day during 2024.

His positivity was echoed by Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan/Monaghan, Niamh Smyth, who said of the local housing supply numbers: “These statistics show we are making progress, that homes are being built and my focus will be on doing whatever I can to keep this positive momentum going.”