Operating profit rose 12pc to €168.6m, while profit after tax reached €132.7m, it said.
Cairn said it is now targeting the delivery of around 6,000 homes across 2026 and 2027 combined, including approximately 3,200 units next year. The company said this will represent a 35pc increase across the two-year period.
The company entered 2026 with a “closed and forward order book” of 3,452 homes with a total sales value of €1.32bn, up 33pc compared with the same point last year.
Demand has been particularly strong among first-time buyers, which the company said continues to be a core market.
Chief executive Michael Stanley said demand is being supported by first-time buyers purchasing starter homes and apartments in new developments.
“We are seeing demand across all tenures, particularly for us which is pleasing in the first time buyer market, because it’s really important for us that we continue to grow that part of our business as much as we can,” he said during a media briefing following publication of the results.
A growing number of apartment schemes are also being supported by state initiatives such as the Croí Cónaithe scheme, which subsidises apartment purchases for buyers in urban areas, he said.
Cairn is currently involved in a number of forward-funded apartment projects that it said will deliver around 2,000 homes for the Land Development Agency and approved housing body partners.
These types of arrangements allow homes to be funded or purchased in advance by State-backed organisations aimed at supporting delivery of social and affordable housing.
Mr Stanley said mixed-tenure developments – combining private buyers, social housing and affordable housing – have become a key part of how large schemes are delivered.
“We have sold affordable purchase homes to the local authority, and we’ve sold well over 1,000 private homes. So you get this mixed tenure approach and the sustainable approach, where, depending on where people’s salaries are they can get access to their own purchased home,” he said.
The company also said there are early signs that institutional investment may begin to return to Ireland’s apartment market.
The new Government rent rule changes and planning reforms which began on March 1 this year could help attract investors back into the residential market.
However, Mr Stanley said Cairn itself does not retain rental properties and therefore does not directly depend on the private rental sector.
“We build and we sell. We don’t rent and we don’t hold assets,” he said, adding that the impact of the rule changes will be more significant for funds and operators active in the rental sector.
Cairn is set to join the Government in Irish representation at Marche International des Professionels de l’Immoblier (MIPIM) – a property investment conference in the south of France, taking place from March 9 to 13.
Cairn’s shares in Dublin rose on the back of the news, closing up 4.2pc at €2.35 each.
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