Ireland Faces Housing Shortage

A severe shortage of housing in their area has stoked a surge in property prices, with properties often going for €20,000 or €30,000 over their asking price — a chunky premium given that Dublin’s average sales price is about €396,000. Dysfunction has been the defining feature of Ireland’s property market for decades, most dramatically in the boom to bust era of 2000-2010, as prices spiralled out of control and fell sharply in the crash that followed. Now the country is in the midst of a different kind of crisis. Ireland expects to build just 21,000 houses and apartments this year, as tighter lending conditions, coupled with coronavirus-related delays, push supply well below the more than 90,000 homes a year built at the peak in 2006. The result is a shortage of accommodation that could last for years across everything from one-bed apartments in Dublin’s city centre to family homes in the suburbs and regions.