Ireland’s residential real estate market has experienced insufficient new building over several years. The statistics are stark: in the six years to 2023, there was an annual average shortfall of 35% in terms of new supply relative to the level of government-estimated national housing demand, following a period of 10 years of almost no new supply.

It’s a people business

French philosopher Auguste Comte is quoted as having said: “Demography is destiny.” Ireland’s demographics are the most compelling in Europe. It has the second fastest growing population in Europe and is forecast to grow significantly in the coming decades compared to falling population in the European Union (EU) as a whole (Chart 1). Growth is coming from a combination of natural expansion and economic migration. The country has the second youngest population in the EU after Cyprus. These demographic tailwinds are both a support for the strongly performing Irish economy in absolute terms and a fundamental catalyst for growth of the Irish residential real estate sector. In this sense, Ireland’s ‘destiny’ is a particularly favourable one.

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