Home builder Cairn Homes has reported higher revenues and operating profits for the year to the end of December as it sold more houses last year - sending its shares up in Dublin trade today.
Cairn said it was seeing "exceptional" levels of demand for housing, most notably from first time buyers, evidenced by a private weekly sales rate per active selling site of 4.2 new homes across existing sites and 11 new scheme launches in the year.
Cairn Homes said its revenues for 2025 rose by 10% to €944.6m from €859.9m in 2024 while its operating profit increased by 12% to €168.6m from €150m.
Its profit after tax for the year rose to €132.7m from €114.6m, after finance costs of €16.7m, up from €15.1m in 2024.
The company said it sold 2,365 homes last year - 124 more than in 2024 - with the average selling price rising by 2.3% to €392,000 from €383,000.
It reported build cost inflation of about 1%, compared to an industry average about 2%, adding that this showed the impact of its procurement strategies, efficiencies from large multi-site tender awards and productivity across scaled sites.
It said it had invested €102.6m on scaled development sites and contracted an additional €77.1m in land acquisitions on deferred payment terms last year.
The company also reported "significant" growth in its closed and forward order book of 3,452 new homes with a net sales value of over €1.32 billion, which it said gives it clear visibility on its future pipeline and underpinning guidance.
Cairn said it is active on sites that will deliver over 4,000 apartments in the medium term with its third Croí Cónaithe approved apartment scheme launch scheduled for the first half of this year, which will deliver over 330 apartments for private buyers.
It is now active on six forward fund projects which will deliver about 2,000 new apartments to the Land Development Agency (LDA) and its Approved Housing Body (AHB) partners.
Cairn said it is firmly positioned to achieve output of about 6,000 new homes between this year and next, including 3,200 homes in 2027, resulting in a 35% increase in its output over the two year period.
The Cairn Board has recommended a final dividend of 5.9 cent per ordinary share, which, combined with the interim dividend of 4.1 cent per ordinary share, results in a total dividend of 10 cent per ordinary share for the year.
Michael Stanley, CEO of Cairn Homes, said the company was proud of the significant contribution it has made to housing in Ireland since we closed its first sale in December 2015, with over 12,000 new homes sold and 35,000 residents living in a Cairn built community.
"Our commitment to growth is stronger than ever and we will accelerate our output to close to 18,000 new homes delivered by the end of 2027," he said.
"Today we are upgrading our guidance for 2026 and projecting sales of circa 3,200 new homes in 2027, a 35% increase over this two-year period." he added.
The CEO noted that the affordability of new homes remains the most significant challenge in Ireland today, and indeed across Europe.
"Cairn will continue to be relentless in managing our cost base to ensure our homes are competitively priced, particularly for our first time buyers and the social and affordable apartments we are delivering at pace and scale for our state funded partners," he said.
"Over the last five years the average selling price of a Cairn home has increased by 5%, compared with the broader market which has seen house price inflation of 29% for new homes in the same period," he said.
"We will continue to use embedded innovation, new building methods and our scale to manage our delivery costs and increase our addressable market," he added.
Cairn was active on an average of 25 residential sites last year, across both low and high-density schemes.
It started nine new sites in 2026 including Montrose in Dublin 4, Ballymoneen in Galway, Garter Lane in Co Dublin, Holybanks in Swords, Co Dublin, Limebrook in Navan, Co Meath, Wicker Walk in Dublin 22, Exchange Square in Dublin 22, Cross Avenue in Blackrock, Co Dublin and Creamfields in Co Cork.
Shares in Cairn Homes rose in Dublin trade today.
