Lowest number of house commencements in Louth and nationally since 2016

Louth has seen the lowest number of house commencements in the first 11 months of the year since 2016, according to the latest data released by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

According to the department's November monthly commencement data, work began on just 15 new homes in Louth in November, up one on October but down from 142 in November 2024.

So far this year, work began on 415 homes in Louth, this is down from 2,543 in the first 11 months of last year, and is the lowest number of houses on which work began since 2016, when work began on 315 homes in the first 11 months of the year.

Of the 15 homes on which work began in Louth in November, three were one off units, seven were part of multi-unit developments, and five were apartments.

November was the first month since June, when work began on any apartments in Louth, when eight were commenced. With just 13 apartments commenced so far this year, it is the lowest number on which work began since at least 2020. The figures provided by the Department for apartments only go back as far as 2021 however, so it is not clear what the numbers were prior to then.

Nationally, work began on 13,165 new homes in the first 11 months of this year. This is the lowest number of homes commenced in the first 11 months of any year since 2016, when work began on 12,326 new homes.

Of the 1,531 units commenced in November, 774 were scheme dwellings, 470 were apartments and 287 were for one-off units.