Apartment Slowdown Masks Strength in Housing Estates as Scheme Completions Rise 2%
CSO data shows estate housing continues to grow while apartment output drops 12.2%, highlighting the increasingly uneven nature of Ireland’s residential delivery pipeline.
31 July 2026 | editor@breakingground.news
Ireland’s housing delivery became increasingly dependent on traditional housing estates during the second quarter of 2026, with new CSO figures showing scheme housing was the only dwelling type to record growth while apartment completions fell sharply. The figures reinforce the growing divergence between the suburban and urban development markets, with implications for homebuilders, planning authorities and housing policy.
The Central Statistics Office recorded 8,823 new dwelling completions during April, May and June, representing a 3.6% decline compared with the same period in 2025. However, beneath the headline figure, housing delivery followed markedly different trajectories depending on development type.
Scheme housing completions increased by 2% year-on-year to 4,738 homes, accounting for 54% of all new homes delivered during the quarter. In contrast, apartment completions fell 12.2% to 2,658 units, while single one-off dwellings declined 3.7% to 1,427 homes.
For volume homebuilders, the figures suggest that estate housing continues to provide the greatest resilience despite wider market challenges. More than one in every two homes completed nationally during the quarter formed part of multi-unit housing developments, underlining the importance of greenfield and suburban housing schemes to overall supply.
The regional distribution of delivery also reveals where development activity remains strongest. Dublin continued to account for more than one-third (36%) of all housing completions, while the Mid-East region, encompassing Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth, delivered almost one-fifth (19.6%) of national output. Together, these two regions accounted for more than half of all homes completed during the quarter.
However, Dublin was also the weakest-performing region in year-on-year terms, with completions falling by 16.4%. The Mid-West experienced the second-largest decline at 13.9%. Six of Ireland’s eight regions nevertheless recorded annual growth, led by the Border region, where completions increased 14.6%, followed by the South-East at 12% and the Mid-East at 9.4%.
The figures point to continued geographic rebalancing of residential construction activity away from the capital towards surrounding and regional counties where land availability, viability and planning conditions may be more favourable.
The composition of housing delivery also varied significantly by region. Dublin remained overwhelmingly apartment-led, with 75.5% of all apartments completed nationally located in the capital. Within Dublin City itself, apartments represented 91.4% of all new homes completed during the quarter, illustrating the capital’s continued dependence on higher-density development despite falling apartment output overall.
Meanwhile, the Mid-East recorded the highest number of scheme housing completions at 1,301 units, reflecting continued suburban expansion across commuter counties. Fingal was the country’s leading local authority for estate housing delivery, completing 551 scheme homes during the quarter. Cork and Kerry together recorded the highest number of one-off rural houses, with Cork County alone delivering 165 single dwellings.
The data also illustrates how closely Ireland’s housing model remains aligned with settlement patterns. Almost 95% of scheme housing completions occurred in cities, satellite towns and independent urban towns, while more than 85% of single rural houses were delivered in areas classified as rural or highly rural. Apartment construction remained overwhelmingly concentrated within cities, which accounted for 68% of apartment completions nationally.
At local level, Cabra-Glasnevin was the country’s busiest Local Electoral Area for housing delivery, recording 465 completions during the quarter. Swords ranked second with 372 completions, while Drogheda Rural was the only non-Dublin LEA to feature among the top-performing areas nationally with 255 completions.
The CSO also reported that seasonally adjusted housing completions fell by 6% between the first and second quarters of 2026, suggesting delivery softened as the year progressed. Scheme housing recorded a 10% quarter-on-quarter decline on a seasonally adjusted basis, while apartment output increased marginally by 1% and single dwellings fell 6%.
For homebuilders, the latest figures reinforce two distinct realities within the Irish housing market. Traditional estate housing continues to underpin national housing delivery and remains the sector’s most consistent source of output. At the same time, the continued decline in apartment completions raises questions about the viability of higher-density urban development, particularly in Dublin where national housing targets increasingly rely on apartment construction to deliver future supply.
