Housing targets for 2024 unlikely to be met

Government officials have raised doubts about the ability to meet housing targets ahead of the upcoming election. Claims made during the campaign stated that 40,000 new homes would be built last year, but official data revealed that only 30,330 homes were completed, down from 32,525 in 2023. The drop in housing output has led the Opposition to accuse government leaders of misleading voters. Documents from the Department of Housing indicated that officials questioned the rate of new home deliveries as early as August, showing a growing concern about reaching housing targets. A recently uncovered document from the Department of Finance’s housing unit suggested that a rise in annual housing output was unlikely. This document was created after the Central Statistics Office released housing output numbers for the third quarter in October. It noted that forecasts for 2024 were likely to align with current output or fall slightly below. Despite these concerns, government figures continued to assert that 40,000 new homes would be built. In contrast, the Central Bank projected that housing output would decrease to 32,000 homes. Officials acknowledged that output was down 8.8 percent in the first half of 2024, although new housing starts increased. A spokesperson for the Minister for Finance stated that the October email was simply internal communication among officials preparing for a housing update. The spokesperson insisted that the information used in the update was not new and had already been shared publicly.