Ireland’s development land market recorded total sales of €104.5m in Q2.

Over the quarter, 17 sites were sold, according to a new report from property advisors Savills Ireland. 

However, just 12% of sites that traded had planning permission in place, which compares with a five-year average of 41%.

John Swarbrigg, Director of Development, Agency & Consultancy at Savills Ireland, said: “While it may be surprising that so few sites traded with planning permission, this was due to a shortage in availability of land with planning approval in place, rather than any weakness in demand for permitted lands.”

“This was likely just a quarterly anomaly, and we expect to see more sites with permission transact in the second half of the year.”

Swarbrigg also highlighted the latest guidelines on housing growth requirements under the National Planning Framework.

These raised the amount of land which can be zoned in excess of the baseline housing growth requirement from 25% to 50%, which the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage says would enable zoning for up to 83,000 units per annum.

Swarbrigg said: “We welcome this pragmatic approach as it acknowledges that a considerable portion of zoned lands may remain undeveloped over the lifetime of a development plan, often due to factors like inadequate infrastructure or lack of connectivity.

“Combined with updated standards on new private apartments, these policy adjustments raise the prospect of increased development activity and, crucially, much-needed housing supply.”

Savills Q2 Development Land Report shows that the largest deal of the quarter was the €18m sale of Lehaunstown, Dublin 18, to the Land Development Agency (LDA), followed by the €15m sale of a site at Stephenstown, Balbriggan, to Park Developments.

The third-biggest transaction also involved the LDA, which purchased 10.0 acres on Belgard Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24.

On a sectoral basis, residential made up 83% of the market share, representing 11 deals at a total value of €87m.

Only two of these deals had planning permission in place.

The second-largest sector was mixed use with 11% market share; this was split across two transactions amounting to €11m.

There were also four industrial deals totalling €3.8m, or 4% of the market share.

Dublin accounted for 59% of transactions at €71.6m.

The most popular sector in Dublin was residential, amounting to €58.9m across six transactions.

This was down 44% y/y after €105.4m in residential deals was recorded in Dublin in Q2 2024.

There were two deals related to mixed-use purposes, and a further two industrial transactions. 

The rest of the Greater Dublin Area of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow recorded four transactions totalling €26.1m, all of which were residential deals.

This was more than three times the volume across these three counties recorded a year earlier, when only €8.4m transacted.

Elsewhere, in Cork, there were two transactions that together amounted to €4m, one of which was residential and the other was mixed use.

This was in line with last year’s total, although it was almost half the five-year Q2 average of €7.8m.

Cork’s share of total transactions stood at 12%.

In Limerick, there was one deal of €2.8m, namely 10.4 acres on Dock Road which is suitable for commercial use.

Photo: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie