Estate agents Hooke and McDonald are forecasting that 27,000 new homes will be built next year, dropping to 20,000 in 2010. This compares to about 90,000 new homes built in 2006.
According to the agents' outlook for the new Irish homes market, published today, the average price of a new home is already 30% lower than peak prices in the middle of 2006.
Hooke and McDonald's economist Geoff Tucker says the fall in home building is required because of the fall in buyer demand and the level of unsold stock in both the new and the second hand market.
He says the next 12 months will be difficult, but that interest rates cuts may represent a turning point.
