Housing Finance Agency approvals increase by 200% in first six months of 2024 – The Irish Times

There has been a 200 per cent growth in financing approvals for social and affordable homes in the first six months of 2024, the State agency with responsibility for lending to local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies has said.

The Housing Finance Agency (HFA) said that a total of €861.5 million was sanctioned for approved housing bodies (AHBs) to facilitate the delivery of a planned 3,194 new homes between January and June this year.

The HFA said the figures included approved loans to support the building of 653 cost rental homes, with financing of €132.5 million.

It also said that loan advances for the first half of 2024 also increased by 50 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. A total of €455 million was drawn down by AHBs to contribute to the development of 1,328 homes in the first half of the year.

Its chief executive said the scale of lending so far in 2024 was an indication of a “strong pipeline” of new housing coming on stream over the next 12 months.

The new data was published on Wednesday to coincide with the publication of the agency’s 2023 annual report.

It showed a total of €1.2 billion of loans advanced last year, which, it said, delivered almost 3,800 homes. The vast majority of financing went to AHBs (€987 million) with the balance being shared between infrastructure loans (€70 million) and local authority home loans (€74 million).

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said that the figures for 2023 and the first six months of 2024 showed the important role the HFA played in the Housing for All Strategy.

Fergal O’Riagáin, the HFA’s new chief executive, said that 2023 had been “another significant year of lending with €1.2 billion advanced to customers to help the delivery of 3,796 new homes”.

“Last year the HFA approved financing to support the delivery of more than 6,000 new homes and in the first half of this year we approved lending to facilitate the delivery of a further 3,194 new homes. This increased activity signals a strong pipeline of new housing coming on stream over the next 12 months.”

The greatest number of loans advanced by the HFA were for homes in the Dublin area, with a total of.1,102 loans made. The next highest were Wicklow (406 homes); Kildare (389 homes); and Meath (384 homes).

The average amount of loans per home throughout the State was €260,000, although figures were higher in some areas. In Dublin, for example, the average loan per home was €314,000.

Projects in 21 counties received loans in 2023. There were no loans recorded for Mayo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Tipperary or Longford.