An analysis of the development landscape in Ireland, it found just 895 purpose-built student bedspaces were built, down from 1,630 the previous year, and the lowest level since Deloitte started the data series in 2016.
In the hotels sector, 1,360 new rooms were added, a decrease of 17pc annually. Among the arrivals were the Ruby Molly, Leinster Hotel and NYX Hotel in Dublin, plus The Moxy and a Premier Inn in Cork, the Radisson Red in Galway and Ravenport Resort in Wexford.
At the end of the first quarter of this year, 4,060 rooms were under construction, mostly in the capital city.
Several large hotel projects commenced construction, including at Dublin Airport, where 410 rooms are being delivered by Accor and The Arora Group. That hotel, which is due to open at the end of next year, will operate as the first Sofitel Hotel in Ireland.
Overall, 1,410 new hotel rooms are due to be added this year. These will include the recently reopened Mercantile Hotel in Dublin, with 105 rooms, and the CitizenM, St Patrick’s Hotel, also in Dublin, with 245. The Point A Hotel in the Liberties will provide 95.
A further 2,510 hotel beds are due to be delivered in 2026.
In terms of student accommodation, the Crane Survey says all the delivery was in the country’s two biggest cities, with 620 at Novel Bottleworks, on the former Coca-Cola bottle factory on the Carrigrohane Road, Cork and 190 at The Residence in Prussia Street, Dublin. The remainder were in Blackhall Place, Stoneybatter, where a refurbishment added an additional 80 beds.
At the end of Q1 this year, there were 1,400 student places under construction across six schemes in Galway, Dublin, Limerick and Kildare.
This stems from government funding announced last year, in which €100m was allocated to deliver accommodation at UCD, DCU and Maynooth, where 115 bedspaces are under construction and due to be delivered for the 2025/2026 academic year.
Galway should get the largest increase in student accommodation, with construction under way across three schemes totalling 840 spaces. This would give a 16pc boost to the city’s stock.
The Deloitte survey points out there were 206,365 full-time students enrolled in third-level institutions in Ireland in the last academic year, a growth of 9pc since before the Covid pandemic.
While the number of domestic students increased only slightly, the number of international students is up by 33pc during the same period. They account for almost one in five of the student population.
“In the medium term, enrolments in third-level students in Ireland are expected to peak at 240,000 full-time students in 2030, due to factors including domestic demographics and increased international enrolments,” the report says.
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