Cork sees rise in number of home-building starts compared to last year

ACROSS Cork city and county combined, there have been 3,259 residential construction starts in the first 11 months of this year.

Monthly data published by the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage on the number of commencement notices shows local and national increases in the number of homes beginning to be built.

In the first 11 months of this year, 293 more homes have commenced in Cork than in the entirety of last year, with more than double the amount of these commencements taking place in the county compared to the city, similar to previous years.

The report shows that the period from January to November 2023 has seen a record number of commencement notices in this 11-month period since 2014, when the data series began, meaning that this year is likely to be the highest ever for homes commencing in Cork. Some 964 homes commenced in the city, and a total of 2,002 commenced in the county in the entirety of last year.

Up to the end of November this year, in Cork city, there have been commencement notices for 1,027 homes, a 25% increase on the same period in 2022, and there have been commencement notices for 2,232 homes in Cork county, a 16.6% increase on the same period in 2022.

October was the most popular month for commencement notices in Cork city, with 228 notices received, while the highest number of commencements in Cork county was seen in November, when 286 homes commenced construction.

Nationally, 29,634 homes have been commenced in the first 11 months of 2023, an increase of 4,472 from the same period last year and exceeding the total for the whole of 2022 by 2,677.