Full coverage: Housing

When the housing crisis emerged, Ardstone Capital had an address book full of international investors and no baggage from the Irish property crash. In the past six years, it has discreetly funded every possible type of home in the country.

Galway developer Alber has planning permission for over 100 homes on a Comer site, but has yet to pay for it. The property is at the centre of parallel legal and rezoning clashes.

Some of those criticising the Croí Cónaithe scheme have been consistent in their suspicion developers are making large profits from building homes. The problem with this theory is that there is effectively no evidence for it.

The answer to this question depends on your definition of “good” or “bad”, your points of reference, and your units of comparison. This week Stephen Kinsella decided to have a debate about it. With himself.

Major new data on housing delivery and costs reveal just how weak supply really is. But to fix the problem, we need to focus on land, the role of public housing and the vexed issue of construction costs.

Fiona Cormican has been instrumental in turning the non-profit into Ireland’s largest private landlord. From the era of grant-funded council homes to the brave new world of investment funds and cost rental, she details what has happened to Ireland’s housing market – and what needs to happen now.

Startling new data on house completions, prices, and costs over a 50-year period paints a stark, sobering picture. To achieve the government target of 30,000 new completions a year, prices must either increase by 24% or construction costs will have to fall by 40%.

In the decades preceding 1916, British rulers subsidised homes to dampen the demand for Irish independence – with long-lasting consequences. What the Free State did next with this social housing stock helps explain the national property psyche.

Most Irish households are small. Very few Irish homes are small. This mismatch is our most pressing housing need.

In an in-depth analysis of Ireland’s rental market, Ronan Lyons charts how many properties must be built to curb spiralling rents. Demographic data also reveals what type of properties must be built, and where they should be be located.