First-time buyers availing of Government grants now represent about 50 per cent of Cairn Homes’ customer base, chief executive Michael Stanley said on Wednesday.

He also said it was too early to judge how much of a price shock the current Middle East conflict represents for the company.

Stanley was speaking after the Dublin-listed home builder reported double-digit increases in profit and revenue for last year, while saying it expected housing output to increase by 35 per cent this year and next.

The company said it is now “firmly positioned” to achieve output of about 6,000 new homes between this year and next, including about 3,200 homes in 2027.

The group said demand across all buyer profiles, most notably among first-time buyers, remained “exceptionally strong” in 2025, with the company delivering 2,365 units

“We don’t break down our markets because they move around a lot, but if you look back over the last 10 years, historically, approximately 50 per cent of our output has been for first-time buyers,” Stanley said.

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He said the company was now seeing a “significant” pickup in interest from PRS (private rented sector) investors after a long drought.

He linked the renewed interest in the Irish market to rent controls and design standard changes.

While the company had no new PRS deals to announce, Stanley said it was “having conversations” with interested parties.

A fall-off in PRS investment in 2022 and 2023 linked to higher interest rates resulted in a pronounced slowdown in housing output here.

In its latest full-year results, Cairn Homes delivered a 10 per cent increase in revenue to €944.6 million, which included the sale of 2,365 units, up from 2,241 units in 2024.

Profit after tax increased 16 per cent from €114.6 million to €132.7 million, equating to basic earnings per share of 21.3 cent, up from 17.9 cent.

Cairn said “exceptionally strong demand” reflected in a “record order book” and that the company “continues to benefit from a fundamentally robust housing market characterised by structural undersupply”.

“These conditions, combined with our disciplined capital allocation strategy and substantial investment in operational scaling, have created a platform for consistent volume growth and strong financial performance,” it said.

It said this demand could also be seen in the growth of its closed and forward order book, which increased to 3,452 new homes with a net sales value of over €1.32 billion as of Tuesday, up from 2,593 new homes and €989 million a year ago.

The average selling price (net of VAT) increased to €392,000 in 2025 from €383,000 in 2024, primarily driven by product mix.

The company said average selling price inflation on the 8,969 new home sales in the five years to 2025 was 4.9 per cent compared to a 29.4 per cent increase in average new home selling prices in the wider market.

Cairn said it was upgrading its guidance for 2026 with revenue of about €1.05 billion-€1.08 billion from €1.02 billion-€1.05 billion previously.

The board recommended a final dividend of 5.9 cent per ordinary share, which, combined with the interim dividend of 4.1 cent per ordinary share, results in a total dividend of 10 cent per ordinary share for the year.