30,000 jobs will be lost in the construction sector in the next two to three years, according to Ulster Bank.
In an economic analysis, the bank says it believes a slow down in building will add to unemployment.
However it adds that while there is a feeling the economy is 'going down the tube', the opposite is the case and it expects strong economic growth this year and next.
There is some optimism today for home owners at the receiving end of interest rate hikes.
Ulster Bank says the European Central Bank will stop raising rates after the next hike expected in September.
In anticipation, it says the price of five-year fixed rate mortgages will begin to drop.
Its economists say the end of the cycle of pushing up rates will stop house prices dropping, but the bank has darker news for the building industry.
It predicts 30,000 job losses in the slowing construction over the next two to three years. The sector currently employs about 250,000 people.
It is forecasting unemployment could reach 5% as a result by end of next year.
That is a small increase but a long way short of the dark days of the 1980s when unemployment was 18%.
