At Advantage, we provide structural warranty insurance for many of the UK’s highest-profile apartment developments, so we always keep a keen eye on this part of the housing market.

This week, we read an interesting (but not entirely surprising) report in the Irish Independent, stating that the number of apartments being built in Ireland had increased by 64 per cent in the first three months of this year. At the same time, there has been a slow-down in the pace of housebuilding.

Ellie Donnelly stated:

The number of apartment units finished in the first three months of this year was up 64 per cent compared to the same period last year, new figures from Goodbody show.

In the build-to-rent sector, so-called ‘cuckoo funds’ will be the biggest driver of the growth in apartments, according to Goodbody’s ‘BER Tracker’ report.

Without these ‘cuckoo funds’, fewer apartments would be built, according to the report.

“Without this investment, it is likely that the output in the [apartment] sector would be much lower in the coming period due to viability and funding constraints,” said Dermot O’Leary, chief economist at Goodbody.

The Irish Examiner defines the phrase ‘Cuckoo Funds’ as the name used to describe foreign property investment firms which purchase houses in Ireland before ramping up rental costs.

A number of commentators have suggested that we should be making apartment living more desirable throughout the UK in a bid to tackle the nation’s housing crisis. Eagle-eyed readers of the Advantage blog may have spotted that we’ve been writing recently about the challenge of making the most of unused urban spaces when planning a new development, and how 76 new tall buildings will become a part of the London skyline this year. We’ve also been featuring some unusual new developments that make the most of tight plots.

We’ll be back soon with more housebuilding news. In the meantime, you may also enjoy our recent feature on how and why the construction sector is growing in Ireland.