More homes are being built — so why is finding one locally still a different question?

More homes but which homes

If more homes are being completed, should you expect more choice when you open the property listings this weekend?

The CSO’s release of 29 October records 10,154 new dwelling completions nationally in July–September 2026, up 10.4% on the same quarter last year. Its local-authority table records 82 in Roscommon, 67 in Longford and 22 in Leitrim (CSO, 2026a).

Those are completion figures, not a count of homes waiting for buyers. That distinction deserves more attention than it usually gets.

For somebody searching around Strokestown, Dromod or Longford town, the practical test is whether there is a suitable home, in a workable location, within reach of their budget and available when they need it. A national improvement can be welcome without answering that individual question.

Look inside the county total

The mix is revealing. Roscommon’s total comprises 33 single dwellings, 47 scheme houses and two apartments. Longford records 14 single dwellings, 44 scheme houses and nine apartments. Leitrim records 20 single dwellings, no scheme houses and two apartments for the quarter (CSO, 2026a, table 3).

“Single” means a one-off dwelling in this series; scheme houses belong to developments of two or more houses. These classifications describe what was built, rather than how a purchaser can acquire it (CSO, 2026a).

The practical inference is that a county total cannot be treated as a fresh shopping list. A one-off home may have been built for its owner. A house in a scheme may already have a buyer. The completion count does not tell us which individual properties are being advertised.

Equally, Leitrim’s zero for scheme completions in this quarter does not establish that no schemes are under construction, that none will complete later, or that no existing homes are available. It is a result for a particular category and period.

A completion is not a listing

The CSO starts with electricity-connection records and uses other information to adjust the count. The date a connection is energised determines its statistical completion date. Reconnections after at least two years disconnected are classified separately. The series is also subject to revision (CSO, 2026b).

That makes it useful evidence of delivery, but a different tool from a current availability list.

There is a geographic caution, too. The CSO says its geographic breakdown can use substation information rather than the precise dwelling location. Boundaries may not align exactly (CSO, 2026b). County totals should therefore not be relabelled as delivery in Dromod, Strokestown or any other individual town.

For a buyer, the more useful follow-up is straightforward: which homes can I actually consider, and what stage has each reached?

Make a shortlist that answers the real question

My suggestion is to separate the search into three columns: homes available to view now; homes with a specific future release or completion indication; and possibilities that still depend on unresolved steps.

For every property, write down the asking position, condition, accommodation, location and likely timing. Add what has been confirmed and what is still an estimate. The aim is not a complicated spreadsheet. It is to stop a promising photograph and a hopeful delivery date doing all the work.

Ask the agent whether the home is currently available, whether a viewing is possible and what evidence supports any proposed handover date. Where work is unfinished, ask what remains to be done and what the quoted price includes. Have your solicitor and relevant technical adviser examine the documents before making commitments.

If a house needs renovation, put the purchase and the works in the same budget discussion. Obtain property-specific advice and costings rather than assuming an older house is automatically the cheaper route. Any grant should be checked separately for eligibility, conditions and payment timing.

These are suggestions for organising a decision, not a recommendation that everyone should buy now or wait.

Sellers need the same discipline

A seller can read encouraging national figures and worry that a flood of competing homes is about to arrive. A buyer can read them and assume prices must shortly fall. Neither conclusion follows from this release alone.

My view is that the sensible sales discussion starts with the alternatives a likely purchaser could genuinely choose. Compare their location, condition, asking position and availability. Then ask how your property should be presented and priced against that evidence.

There is little value in winning an instruction with a flattering number that the evidence cannot support. An honest starting position gives seller and agent something useful to work with. The market remains the final arbiter; neither a national statistic nor a confident sales pitch guarantees the result.

What would change the picture

The next useful evidence is a combination of further completions data and verified local availability: what is being released, what remains unsold and which homes genuinely fit the people searching.

This release does not establish whether choice has improved in any named town, how quickly individual homes will sell or what their prices will be. Nor does it identify the reasons behind the local mix.

More completed homes matter. For the person looking for a home, the next question is more personal: which of them can become a realistic option for me?