Nama will supply 4,500 housing units in Dublin over the next 18 months, said the agency’s chief executive, Brendan McDonagh.

Nama will fund and oversee the construction of houses and apartments in areas throughout the city in an effort to meet surging demand. Building has already started on 1,000 of these units.

Mr McDonagh said the agency had the potential to supply up to 25,000 residential units in sites linked to its debtors.

Mr McDonagh was speaking at the National Housing Supply Conference yesterday. The conference convened by Nama was attended by policymakers from national and local government to discuss the housing market.

In his presentation, Mr McDonagh said that an analysis by the agency showed that sites controlled by Nama debtors/receivers could deliver 40% of the demand for houses in Dublin. The ESRI has calculated demand for approximately 7,000 houses in Dublin annually up to 2020.

He said Nama has adopted a tiered approach to sites; all sites linked to loans held by the agency have been reviewed and categorised into Tier 1, 2, and 3, sites depending on the extent to which they are “shovel-ready”.

Speaking at the conference, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, said since taking office in 2011, the Government had looked at ways of revitalising the construction sector through measures aimed at improving both supply and demand.

“The Government is playing its part,” said Mr Noonan. “But I want to emphasise that this is not a one-way street. The broad sector itself needs to demonstrate a renewed professionalism where shoddy practices and poor standards — whose legacy we are still dealing with today — are consigned to the past.

“We need a sector that can deliver both high-quality housing and infrastructure in a timely, competitive and sustainable way that meets the needs of our economy and society. Working together, I am confident that we are on course to achieve this.”

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