Ireland

Ireland's housing crisis is driven by a persistent gap between strong demand and insufficient supply of homes, resulting in steeply rising prices and surging rents. In early 2025, homelessness reached an all-time high with over 15,000 people, including more than 4,600 children and over 2,100 families, living without a stable home. Young adults are especially squeezed: over 350,000 people aged 20 to 35 remain living with their parents due to unaffordable rents and house prices, limiting their independence and delaying family formation. The housing crisis cuts across society, but it hits certain groups disproportionately hard. Lone parents, particularly single mothers, account for about 60% of homeless families. Non-EU nationals, people with disabilities, and members of the Traveller community face higher risks of homelessness and severe housing deprivation, often experiencing discrimination in the housing market. Travellers, for example, make up about 9% of the homeless population despite being less than 1% of Ireland’s total population. The imbalance between supply and need is stark: while industry experts say Ireland requires at least 40,000 to 50,000 new homes annually, actual housing completions have consistently fallen short, with forecasts for 2025 at best reaching the lower end of this range. The result is a chronic shortage that endangers economic stability, drives emigration among young professionals, and undermines the health and wellbeing of vulnerable and lower-income groups.

The Irish government’s current approach to affordable and sustainable housing is defined by the 2025 Programme for Government and the revised National Planning Framework (NPF), which places housing as a central policy priority. The government’s most recent and ambitious target is to deliver 303,000 new homes by 2030, scaling up to 60,000 homes annually by that year. For 2025, the stated target is 41,000 new homes, rising incrementally over the next five years. Key initiatives driving this agenda include a successor to the “Housing for All” plan, aimed at supporting home ownership, expanding social housing, eradicating homelessness, increasing overall supply, and tackling vacancy and dereliction. Specific programs include: - Help to Buy: a tax rebate of up to €30,000 (or 10% of property price) for first-time buyers, extended to 2029. - First Home scheme and Local Authority Home Loan: support financing for first-time and lower-income buyers. - Government-backed development finance via the Land Development Agency (LDA), Housing Finance Agency, and state investment funds. - Temporary measures such as subsidies (Croi Cónaithe) for costly apartment construction, project viability support (Project Tosaigh), and a temporary waiver of development levies. - Rent controls and expanded public housing delivery, targeting an average of 12,000 new social homes per year. - Environmental sustainability is promoted through zoning reforms, incentives to repurpose vacant units, and integration of sustainable standards in new builds. These combined actions are tasked with meeting growing demand, supporting inclusion, and ensuring a more sustainable, affordable housing system across Ireland.

Housing cooperatives in Ireland currently play a **minor role**, representing **less than 1% of total housing delivery**. The sector flourished in the 1970s but sharply declined due to policy shifts, changes in bank lending, and a greater market reliance on private sector solutions. In recent years, however, there is a **renewed interest in cooperative and community-led housing models** as affordable homeownership becomes increasingly out of reach for many households and demand for cost-rental and social housing intensifies. Co-operative Housing Ireland remains the principal actor, focusing on delivering social-rental housing, but advocates highlight the model’s potential to serve broader markets, including affordable homeownership and multigenerational communities. Sector experts argue that cooperative housing can address affordability, tenure security, and tenant participation, and should be central to expanding social and affordable rental stock in the country. Government support is still limited but evolving. While most resources and new policy initiatives focus on ramping up social/public and cost rental housing supply through direct state investment, state agencies, and regulatory reforms, there is growing attention to international models (notably Switzerland and the Netherlands) and community land trusts that could provide a supportive framework for cooperative housing. The sector’s share remains very small, with calls for new policy incentives and dedicated financial mechanisms to allow for significant expansion.

Ireland’s housing market in 2025 is marked by **rising prices, strong demand, and tight supply**. The national home ownership rate was about **69.3% in 2024**, continuing a gradual decline, while approximately **30% of households rent**, with the remainder in social or other arrangements. Average asking prices for homes nationwide are around **€375,000** and about **€450,000 in Dublin**. The national average price per sqm to buy an apartment is estimated near **€4,000**, while in Dublin it can exceed **€6,000**. Rental costs have also surged: the **median rent per month nationwide is approximately €2,053**, translating to about **€30–€32 per sqm** per month in Dublin and slightly less elsewhere. **Publicly owned housing (public housing)** and **social housing** are related but not identical in Ireland. Public housing is state-owned and intended for a broad population, whereas social housing, as defined by Irish law, includes state, local authority, or non-profit sector housing for lower-income or vulnerable people. Social housing may be owned directly by the state, by approved housing bodies, or even leased from the private sector under government subsidy schemes, blurring the distinction with privately supplied housing. The **social/public housing sector constitutes around 9–11%** of the national housing stock, a share that has declined over decades due to tenant purchase schemes and shifting government policies.