Ireland's housing market could see over 30,000 units completed this year.
According to the latest BPFI Housing Market Monitor, the market remains strong with increased supply of new housing and continued pent-up demand.
Dublin accounted for about 32.5% of all completions in the second quarter of the year, and 68.7% of apartment completions.
Munster and the Dublin commuter region - Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow - accounted for about 21.1% and 23.2% of completions, respectively.
Source: BPFIMore than 5,000 apartments were granted planning permission in the same period, some 58% of all units.
Dublin made up about about two-thirds of these figures, while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council accounted for 34.8%.
Cork made up 31.1% of multi-development houses and 9.1% of apartments granted planning permission in the second quarter of the year.
Source: BPFIThere has also been "robust" mortgage activity for first-time buyers despite an overall market slowdown.
Banking & Payments Federation Ireland Chief Economist Ali Uğur said new housing supply remains strong.
"On a rolling 12 months basis, a total of 30,546 units were completed at the end of Q2 2023 compared with 24,841 units during the same period in 2022," he said.
"If the sector continues to build at the rate seen in the second half of 2022, it is likely that total completions in 2023 could reach over 30,000 units.
"Further encouraging signs of future activity can been seen in the 18,546 units that were commenced in the first seven months of 2023 almost 2,000 more than in the same period in 2022."
Mortgage drawdowns slowing
There were 20,389 mortgage drawdowns, a 7% decline year-on-year, mainly due to a significant drop in switching activity.
Mr Uğur said mortgage approvals for this year will be down on last year.
"It is likely that the total number of mortgages approved and drawn down at the end of 2023 will be lower than the levels observed in 2022," he said.
"At the same time, with strong economic fundamentals and latent demand, we expect solid demand for mortgages from the first-time buyer (FTB) segment.
"FTBs accounted for almost 62% of the volume and value of mortgage approvals in July 2023 with almost 30,000 FTB mortgages approved valued at nearly €8.4 billion, the highest annualised levels since the date series began in 2011," he added.
