{
  "id": 17359600,
  "title": "5 reasons the housing crisis may be turning a corner",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/5-reasons-the-housing-crisis-may-be-turning-a-corner",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-31T07:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "RTE News",
    "slug": "rte-news",
    "url": "https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2026/1031/1597411-housing-crisis-progress/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The housing crisis may be turning a corner, with several positive developments occurring in recent months. Newly built homes increased by 10.4% between July and September of this year, with almost 27,000 dwellings finished so far in 2026. Analysts predict between 39,000 and 40,000 homes will be completed by the end of the year, up from 36,000 in 2025. However, this still falls short of the 50,000 to 60,000 homes needed to meet the estimated demand of 250,000 to 300,000 homes.\n\nThe government has scrapped annual targets and aims to build 300,000 homes between 2025 and 2030, requiring a significant increase in annual output. First-time buyer mortgages have risen by 9% year on year, with 22,600 home loans taken this year. Additionally, there has been a 7% rise in the number of people drawing down mortgages to move from one home to another, indicating more liquidity in the market.\n\nThe market for older homes is also showing slight improvement, with 14,600 properties listed for sale in September, up 12.5% year on year. Property prices have been rising at a slower pace, decelerating from 10% per annum to 5% over the past two years. While soaring property prices are a symptom of demand and supply issues, economists predict further deceleration to 3% or 4%.\n\nHowever, there are concerns that the market may be cooling off due to higher interest rates and affordability limits for buyers. The European Central Bank raised rates, and the government's policy changes to encourage investors have been criticized for affecting affordability. Despite these challenges, the construction industry welcomes the policy changes, including reduced VAT on new apartments and relaxed rent controls, even as homeless numbers hit a record 17,885.\n\nThe government needs to implement several policy levers, such as continued fiscal supports for social housing and faster progress on rezoning residential land, to lift new housing output above the critical 50,000 threshold. Experts suggest coordinated efforts in providing utilities like water and electricity connections to facilitate site development.",
  "summary": "Over the past few months there have been positive noises about the housing market. There is a shift under way, but it is a number of relatively small moves in the right direction, writes David Murphy",
  "key_points": [
    "Housing completions rose 10.4% between July and September 2026",
    "Government scrapped annual targets, aims for 300,000 homes by 2030",
    "First-time buyer mortgages increased 9% year on year"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}