ONLY 45 houses were
commenced in Co Donegal in the first three months of
this year, the latest figures from the Construction
Industry Federation (CIF) show.
This represents a 30% drop on the figures for 2011
when 64 houses were commenced.
There was also a major decrease in the 12-month
period up to March 2012, with 201 houses started in
Donegal, compared with 387 houses commenced in the
twelve months leading up to March 2011. This
represented a fall of 186 houses being commenced
between the two twelve month periods.
However, house completions numbered 159 units in
Donegal in the first quarter - equalling the figure
for the same period in 2011, the statistics show.
CIF director Hubert Fitzpatrick said: “The latest
statistics reveal that the level of new house
building activity remains severely depressed, which
points to a further sharp decline in output for 2012
in Donegal. Given the downturn in the house building
activity nationally that is not a surprise.
“Most of the houses being built in Donegal or
recently completed were one-off units. Since the
economic downturn began this has become more common
practice, with most house building activity
nationally being based on one off units.“
Mr Fitzpatrick added: “Based on the statistics for
Donegal and the rest of the country, the CIF
believes that there will now only be a total of
7,500 – 8,000 house unit completions this year. This
would mark another significant drop in activity.” |
