This article is from page 2 of the 2012-06-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
A NEW house began construction in Clare every four days during the first three months of the year, which means ground was broken on just 22 houses between January and the end of March.
This is a significant drop on the same period last year, when 36 houses were built – a drop of 39 per cent.
The figure becomes even starker when the figures for a full year are compared.
From April 2011 to March 2012, a total of 201 commenced constructions in Clare, compared to 387 during the 12 months previous.
This is a drop of 87 per cent according to the latest house building sta- tistics released by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).
It is unlikely that the drop in construction is likely to improve any time soon in the Banner County as planning applications to Clare County Council have also decreased significantly.
The National Housing Construction Index indicates that planning application figures in Ireland from January to April 2012 were down 20 per cent. However, Clare recorded the third highest drop nationally at 35 per cent, just behind Kerry and Kildare, both with a 39 per cent decrease in applications.
Senator Tony Mulcahy (FG) said the figures represented evidence of the ongoing challenges facing the local construction trade and the dif- ficulty being experienced by people in securing mortgages.
“A total of 115 planning applications were lodged to the planning authority between January and April, compared to 176 during the same period in 2011. This represents a 35 per cent drop, which will be of great concern to those working in the building trade in County Clare.
“The figures suggest that many people are having difficulty securing mortgages to finance the construction of new homes. This is typified by the fact that there has been a large increase in the number of home builders or developers looking for an extension to the planning application as the original application was about to expire after five years,” he said.
“The figures also show that increas- ing numbers of people are opting to rent properties rather than build their own home. Both situations have a negative impact on the construction sector and rural communities throughout the county where new housing starts are important for rural regeneration and the creation of jobs.”
There were 71 units completed in Clare in the first quarter of this year, however, compared to 74 during the same period in 2011. This resulted in a drop of only four per cent in the year-on-year comparison.
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 Clare.” It w ill b e a d u ll we e k, Frid a y a n d Sa t u rd a y t h e we t t e st , m ild b u t n o t wa rm . Lo n g – ra n g e fo re c a st su g g e st s n e xt we e k w ill b e sim ila r.