House commencements rose in Louth in July following quiet June

House commencements in Louth picked up again in July, following a very quiet month in June when work began on just nine new homes in the county. 

Figures released today by The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the number of Commencement Notices (residential construction starts) for July 2024, show that work began on 109 new homes in Louth in July. It is four fewer than July 2023, but significantly higher than the nine in June. Of the 109 new starts, eight were one off houses.

So far in 2024, work began on 1,574 new homes in Louth, which is higher than the total number of commencements in 2023, when work began on 1,118 homes in the county. The bulk of the commencements in 2024 were in April, when work began on 970 new homes.

The increase was attributed to the ending of the development levy waiver and the Uisce Éireann connection charge rebate at the end of April, which triggered a surge in commencement activity in April 2024 as that deadline approached.

Nationally, commencement began on 1,574 new homes in July, the lowest number of new starts this year, and the lowest since March 2021. Similar to Louth however, the commencement on 35,358 new homes nationally so far this year, is higher than the total number of commencements in the whole of 2023 (32,801).

Of all the homes commenced in the first seven months of 2024, 35% were in the four Dublin local authorities. By Local authority, the most units commenced this year so far have been in Dublin City (5,197) followed by Cork City (3,447) and Fingal (3,341). The lowest number of units commenced have been in Leitrim (50), Longford (75) and Roscommon (104).