Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland report “The Real Costs of New Apartment Delivery 2020” – While total development costs have fallen for some apartment types in the Greater Dublin Area and viability has improved significantly, affordability remains a huge challenge.

Main Findings:

  • Total development costs of delivering medium-rise apartments in Dublin city and suburbs have fallen by between 2% and 9% since 2017
  • The total development costs of medium-rise apartments now range from €411K to €619K including VAT
  • Cost savings are largely due to the introduction of new apartment design guidelines in 2018
  • New locations of developments in 2020 report are reflected in lower site costs than those in 2017
  • Affordability remains a critical issue – lowest-priced, low rise suburban apartments require an income of at least €98K
  • Construction costs or ‘hard costs’ of medium-rise blocks now make up 47% of total costs, up from 43% since 2017, while soft costs make up 42% and land 11%
  • Total development costs of developing low rise apartments in Dublin suburbs range from €359K to €413K – an increase of 8% and 7% respectively
  • While only one low rise apartment type was viable in 2017, this has now risen to two, with two other types are very close, including medium-rise in the suburbs
  • Report shows Build to Rent is viable in locations that Build to Sell is not
  • Surveyors call for more targeted supports for buyers struggling to get on the property ladder and say delays in the planning process and by Irish Water as well as court actions are adding to costs

Check out the report on the following link:

https://scsi.ie/real-cost-of-new-apartment-delivery/