New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the volume of production in the building and construction industry fell by 5% between the third quarter of 2025 and the fourth quarter of 2025.
On an annual basis, the CSO said that production volume increased by 0.8%.
Today's figures show that the volume of production in Non-Residential Building decreased by 2% and by 6.5% in Residential Building, while Civil Engineering fell by 6% over the same time.
On an annual basis, between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, production volume in construction grew by 0.8%.
During the same time, annual production volume fell by 0.9% in the Civil Engineering sector and by 0.1% in Residential Building, while production volume in Non-Residential building showed an annual increase of 3.3%.
Meanwhile, the value index for the CSO's All Building and Construction in the last three months of the year was down by 3.5% on a quarterly basis from the third quarter of 2025.
But it was up 2.8% on an annual basis from the same three month period in 2024.
Commenting on today's figures, Trevor Grant, chairperson of Irish Mortgage Advisors, said they suggest that recent months have not been as promising for housing delivery as had been thought.
But he added that perspective buyers should take comfort from government figures released last week, which show there was a 73% increase in housing starts in January 2026, as well as recent CSO figures which show there was a 20% increase in housing completions in 2025.
"We still need an exponential increase in the number of new homes being built in Ireland. Second-hand home stock levels have fallen to record lows and not enough new homes are coming onto the market," Trevor Grant said.
He said the biggest driver of Irish house price inflation is the shortage of homes coupled with the pent-up demand for housing and an expanding population.
Recent CSO figures show that the cost buying a typical home in Dublin is now €500,000 while nationally the median price of a home is €387,000.
He also predicted that Irish house prices are likely to continue to be high for the foreseeable future, which will have a knock-on effects for mortgages.
"In line with increasing house prices, average mortgage sizes being drawn down by house buyers have reached record levels in recent months," he said.
