Home Building Finance Ireland increased its loan approvals to €2.7bn by the end of December 2024, an increase of 61% on the €1.66bn at the end of 2023.

HBFI is the State entity that has since 2019 been lending to housebuilders to build more homes.

At the end of December 2024 it had approved funding for 13,186 new homes in 184 developments across 23 counties.

Individual loan facilities range from €1m to €113m, with an average size of €14.5m. The HBFI said the loans are for an average term of 23 months.

Almost half, 47%, of HBFI-funded homes are for owner-occupiers, 40% for social/affordable housing, 4% Part V and 9% for renters.

The report also shows there were over €1bn new approvals in 2024 - more than double the level approved in 2023 (€1.01bn compared to €408m).

The company began with an initial funding capacity of €730m, made available by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), six years ago.

This money is recycled as early loans are repaid, freeing up capacity for new lending, with loan approvals now at €2.7bn.

It is a private company with its own Board operating on a commercial basis, wholly owned by the Minister for Finance and is subject to State Aid rules and audited by the Comptroller & Auditor General.

However, earlier this month it emerged the number of new homes completed last year declined by 6.7% and fell well short of government projections of 40,000.

A total of 30,330 dwellings were constructed in 2024, down from 32,525 the previous year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Even still, HBFI chief executive Dara Deering said: "We continued to make a valuable contribution to accelerating Ireland’s housing supply meaning to date we have funded over 13,000 new homes in 23 counties for owner-occupiers, renters and people who need social or affordable housing".

"By offering an expanded range of products, we saw a significant increase in our new loan approvals to over €1 bn over the course of the year when commencement activity across the market was also really strong," she said.

"We’re recycling capital to leverage the impact of the capital at our disposal to lend to small, medium and large housebuilding companies to improve supply as much as we can.

"We will continue to engage with the market and our wider stakeholders to identify and respond to emerging funding gaps to support the delivery of much needed new homes," she added.

The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, said: "The agility of HBFI’s business model has seen the organisation respond to emerging gaps in the market through an expansion of its products which can support small, medium and large housebuilders in developing both houses and apartments across all tenure types – for owner occupier, rental, affordable and social housing.

"With over €1bn of funding approved in 2024 across 23 counties, it is clear that HBFI is playing an important role in supporting increased housing delivery."