Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
551. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average cost per local authority for constructing houses in 2024 and 2025 where the local authority directly contracted builders, with figures provided separately for each local authority. [71538/25]
View answer552. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average cost per local authority for constructing apartments in 2024 and 2025 where the local authority directly contracted builders, with figures provided separately for each local authority. [71539/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 551 and 552 together.
My Department assesses, approves and records local authority social housing delivery on a project basis, rather than on the basis of individual unit types.
Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) funded construction projects by local authorities must, like all publicly-funded construction programmes, comply with the Infrastructure Guidelines (Public Spending Code) and Capital Works Management Framework. My Department periodically issues Basic Unit Costs (BUCs) for each local authority area, for use as a key benchmark for the development and costing of scheme designs at capital appraisal stage. While not a record of actual delivery costs, BUCs are based on an analysis of returned data from tendered social housing schemes over an extended period and updated based on published tender index information as required.
To monitor tender cost trends and to inform BUC levels, my Department analyses the tender data for the construction cost element of new build schemes approved under the SHIP & CAS four stage approval processes for each unit type, where sufficient information is available to allow such costs to be extrapolated and where the information available is appropriate for comparison purposes. The most recent Basic Unit Costs (BUCs) were issued in Q2 2025.
A copy of the BUCs have been provided to all local authorities and can be made available to public representatives on request.
Outlined in the table below are average construction costs (incl. VAT), recorded as part of the aforementioned analysis for projects tendered in 2024 (1-4 bedroom houses and apartments). Data for 2025 is not available at this time.
The table also sets out the range of average unit costs (across different projects). The range of costs recorded vary, depending on design, mix of unit types (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house); and on the level of abnormal requirements for each scheme, for instance existing site conditions, demolitions, service diversions, site access requirements. Average abnormal costs are also separately identified in the below table.
SHIP Construction 2024
|
2024 |
Construction Costs (incl. abnormals) |
Construction Costs (incl. abnormals) |
Abnormal Costs |
Abnormal Costs |
|
|
Average Cost Per Unit € |
Range of Costs per Unit € |
Average Cost Per Unit € |
Range of Costs per Unit € |
|
Overall (1-4 beds) |
323,994 |
205k - 460k |
39,702 |
3k - 123k |
The costs in the above table relate to the construction element only of the all-in delivery cost. Other items that make up the all-in total include:
• Design/technical fees: Design fees vary from project to project, depending on the location, size and complexity of a scheme (and depending on whether design services are provided by a local authority in-house or via external appointment). As a guideline/indicator, design fee are generally expected to range between 7.5% to 12.5% of construction costs.
• Land cost: Land costs will vary significantly from project to project, depending on location and ownership status (i.e. land costs could vary from existing local authority land at no cost to land purchased at market value).
• Utilities: Connection fees for Irish Water, ESB, gas, etc. As a guideline/indicator, utility connection costs are generally in the order of €7k per unit.
• Other Costs: Other items that make up the all-in delivery cost can include site investigations/surveys, archaeological requirements, Percent for Art contributions - and will vary from scheme to scheme.
