'The tapering-off of commercial activity is also welcome, as it reflects a slowdown in office building,' said John McCartney, head of research at BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland. Photograph: by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesReal Estate Ireland, but an ongoing drop-off in commercial building dragged on the construction sector overall as work on offices slowed to a halt.
Positive sentiment across the sector is also supporting increased hiring with construction firms feeling confident that workloads will continue to increase into 2025, BNP Paribas said.Got a mortgage? There is up to €2,500 in tax relief waiting for youThe survey indicates that employment growth in the construction sector expanded in October for the second month running, albeit at a modest pace that was broadly in line with September.
Bucking the headline trend, homebuilding activity continued to improve in the month and has now been stable or rising for the past nine months, said BNP Paribas Real Estate director and head of research John McCartney, after falling “continuously” throughout 2023.Residential activity jumped from a reading of 51 in September to 56.4 in October, representing a sharp acceleration of the subsector’s growth pattern, he said.
The headline index was dragged down by the commercial sector, which dropped further in contraction territory last month, from a reading of 47.9 to 47 in October. “Dublin’s office market is now amply supplied and, although a significant quantity of new space is still winding its way to completion, new starts have dried up. This will help to limit further vacancy increases, allowing demand to catch up in time.”
But the sector’s share of Dublin office take-up has only averaged 22 per cent since the start of 2022, and in the third quarter of 2024, it fell to its lowest share since the start of BNP Paribas Real Estate’s records, accounting for just 7.1 per cent of the pie.