A survey has shown that most housebuilders are pencilling in a decline in the amount of houses they will build this year, though most did not expect a decline in prices.
The Merrion Stockbrokers survey questioned 33 Irish housebuilding companies, which it says account for around 8% of the 88,000 houses completed in 2006, to assess their outlook for on completions and house prices.
Just over three quarters of respondents said that they expect their level of completions to fall compared to 2006 - with 27% expecting to build over 20% fewer houses, 12% expect completions to be unchanged and 12% expect them to rise this year.
Over 80% of respondents attributed the slowing in the completion outlook either to weaker confidence or tighter affordability and higher interest rates.
The survey suggests that there is downside risk to consensus forecasts for housebuilding completions of around 82,000 units in 2007.
On pricing trends, 67% of respondents expect that their prices will not change over the course of 2007 and 12% expect their prices will rise, while 21% forecast their prices to be lower.
The builders said they would be more likely to build fewer houses than cut prices if the market weakened.
For completions in 2008, 40% expect their level of unit completions to be unchanged compared to 2007, and 36% expect them to rise.
