New figures show nearly 8,000 new homes and apartments have been built this year.

The CSO today released its figures for ‘New Dwelling Completions’ for the second quarter of 2018.

It shows that 4,419 dwellings were completed between April and June – an increase of 34% on the year before.

However, the 7,909 homes completed in the first half of the year falls far short of the annual target of 30,000 to 35,000 that many experts believe will be required to deal with the housing crisis.

Of the builds completed this year; 63% were in estates, 26% were houses on their own and 11% were apartments.

Dublin and the Mid-East of the country saw 60.5% of the new homes – while some 78% were in urban areas.

The Government has previously been criticised for measuring new completions on the basis of new ESB connections, however, the CSO has said it has now adjusted for this by using additional information.