Initiative Ireland (www.initiativeireland.ie ) have published its fourth annual housing report, entitled Housing 2021.
The report highlights a 52 percent shortfall in supply relative to demand in 2020, but forecasts that 2021 will see delivery of 24,000 by the end of the year, up 15 percent from 2020.
General Report Findings include:
Lower-income families remain locked out of housing, especially within the Greater Dublin Area; where households on the average income of €65,400 were able to access less than seven percent of new homes built and 8.5 percent of Existing Housing Sales.
Household Buyers have gone from accounting for 62 percent of sales to 54 percent of sales, over the last five years, with increasing sales to institutional buyers and reductions in Household Landlords and a reduction in actual sales to owner-occupiers year on year.
Only 35 percent of New Homes delivered in 2020 nationwide were for Household Buyers, including Self-Builds. This compares to 40 percent in 2018.
The year 2020 saw planning approvals and extensions at 45,000 units, compared to forecast need for 59,000 per annum to adjust for non-commencements. Application approvals in the first half of 2021 accounted for 18,113 units, indicating a severe drop year-on-year which is expected to impact delivery in 2022.
“By publishing the housing report each year, we want to encourage conversation around all the elements which contribute to Housing Supply shortfalls and the experience on the ground. An increase in supply that doesn’t address household demand for example is a key concern and something that needs to be monitored carefully to avoid displacing markets,” Padraig Rushe, Initiative Ireland CEO, said.
As an impact finance firm, Initiative Ireland enables its impact investor community to co-fund the construction of energy-efficient social and affordable housing projects nationwide. The company also advocates for societal and environmental impact, through their publications and investment strategies, as a signatory of the UN Principles of Responsible Investing.
The report launch comes one month after Initiative Ireland announced two new partnerships, which combined are expected to deliver €1.5m in additional finance for social and affordable housing in Ireland over the next three years.
In September Initiative Ireland CEO Padraig W. Rushe and CEO of Fairfield Real Estate Finance Chris Wilson, announced they had secured the backing of the Private Credit Business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, as an additional backer for their new sustainable finance partnership, which has capacity to finance the construction of over 7,500 homes over the next three years.
Through this partnership, Initiative Ireland has capacity to lend up to €900m over the next three years to experienced property developers. The joint venture will see Initiative Ireland lending to small, medium and large-scale developers alike, to finance the development of private, social and affordable housing schemes, while supporting over 3,000 construction jobs and creating 20 new finance jobs at Initiative Ireland. Brookland arranged the financing with the Private Credit Business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
The announcement also came with confirmation from Initiative Ireland that it will soon commence lending to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs ), with the goal of supporting the delivery of an additional 10,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
In August 2020 the company announced a new partnership with the Credit Union Development Association (CUDA ), which would enable Irish Credit Unions to provide funding to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs ) across Ireland through a new regulated fund. The Fund received final approval in September 2021 from the Central Bank and is now open for subscription to Irish Credit Unions, with the goal of originating €600m of loans over the next three years.
The Housing 2021 Report is available via https://initiativeireland.ie/publications/
