MAI N FE ATURE
De liv e rin g h o u s in g now and in th e future A number of leading housebuilders speak with Barry McCall about the impact of Covid-19 and the issues that need to be addressed if the government’s ambitious housing targets are to be met.
Blackhall Street apartments in Dublin by Vision Contracting.
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t might seem hard to believe but less than 15 years ago the biggest fears in relation to housing in this country were rampant price inflation and over-supply. Only a decade ago, we were faced with the spectacle of “ghost estates”, with many commentators predicting that Ireland would be dealing with a housing surplus for generations. The speed with which the economy and the housing market righted themselves took even the optimists by surprise, with surfeit quickly turning into deficit. Homelessness and house price affordability became key electoral issues, and a variety of government initiatives were launched to revive housing construction and support homebuyers.
GOVERNMENT HOUSING TARGETS
Fergal Lalor, Managing Director, Sisk Living.
16 irishconstructionnews May 2021
The government target is for 35,000 new homes to be delivered each year, with around 10,000 of them falling into the social and affordable categories. Progress was being made until Covid hit. The industry was shut down for eight weeks in the spring and early summer of 2020, while many potential homebuyers were spooked by the economic fallout of the pandemic.
New home delivery fell slightly to 20,780 in 2020. This was a drop of just 411 on the number built in 2019. With large parts of the industry shut down again during the early part of 2021, this will have a knock-on effect on completions this year. But the industry was resilient in 2020, and it is hopeful of making up for lost time in 2021, despite some non-Covid related challenges. One of the more recent entrants to the Irish housing market is Quintain. It was formally established in this country in 2019, although its roots date back to 2013 when joint managing partners Michael Hynes and Eddie Byrne worked for Hudson Advisors, Lone Star’s asset management unit. Michael Hynes explains that there was nothing happening at the time, saying the country “was just moving out of the global financial crisis. Lone Star Funds was one of the more prolific buyers of loan books at the time.” Quintain worked through the loan books to stabilise and maximise the value of the assets. It partnered with Cairn Homes to acquire the €500m Project Clear from Ulster Bank in 2016. “That was a good fit and we split the
