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Report finds apartments more expensive to build than houses

A new report says building a three-bedroom apartment in Dublin is now more expensive than buildin...
Newstalk
Newstalk

07.46 24 Oct 2017


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Report finds apartments more e...

Report finds apartments more expensive to build than houses

Newstalk
Newstalk

07.46 24 Oct 2017


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A new report says building a three-bedroom apartment in Dublin is now more expensive than building a three-bedroom house.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) say the cost to deliver apartments of between five to eight stories in the capital ranges from a low of €470,000 to €578,000.

While the cost of delivering a two-bedroom, low-rise apartment is €293,000.

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It also finds delivery of affordable medium-rise apartments in Dublin is "not commercially viable".

It says the actual cost of building the apartment, known as hard costs, makes up 43% or less than half of the overall costs - while soft costs, such as VAT, levies, margins and fees, make up 41% of the costs.

Paul Mitchell, chair of the SCSI working group that authored the report, said the research showed that contrary to popular perception apartments are expensive to build.

"Our report shows that costs can vary from €293K for a low rise suburban apartment -which is the one most similar to the average three bed semi - to €578K for a medium rise apartment in the city.

"While prices can vary significantly depending on design one of the key variables was site costs. In our report site costs vary from €33K per apartment to €125K and this highlights the paucity of serviced land."

The report shows it is currently not commercially viable to deliver affordable medium rise apartments in Dublin | Source: SCSI

"Another popular perception is that the supply situation can be alleviated by building upwards.

"However, as we can see in this report the most expensive apartments are the medium rise ones in the city.

"Our research shows the higher you go the greater the costs.

"This is due to the fact that these buildings have a more complex structure and require a wider range of mechanical and electrical services, sophisticated facades, basement parking and much more."

According to the report, the sales price of two-bed apartments in Dublin across all three categories currently range from €338,000 to €361,000 to €383,000.

The report also found that the only apartment that is commercially viable to deliver at affordable levels is a low rise suburban type.


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