Midwest economy hits record employment despite soaring housing pressures

Kenneth Fox

The midwest economy hits record employment amid soaring housing pressures, finds Limerick Chamber’s midwest Economic Insights (MWEI) 2025 report.

The report delivers a comprehensive overview of performance across Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary.

The latest edition of the MWEI, compiled by Limerick Chamber’s in-house policy unit, offers a robust, data-driven snapshot of the region’s performance across housing, employment, education, transport, and logistics.

The report reveals soaring housing prices, with the midwest experiencing a 44 per cent increase in home prices over the past five years. Co Limerick alone saw a rise of nearly €70,000 (22 per cent).

While housing completions are up, particularly in Limerick (+29 per cent) and Clare (+34 per cent) compared to Tipperary, where completions decreased by almost 5 per cent, supply remains far below demand.

While Limerick completed over 1,000 homes in 2024, analysis by the Housing Commission suggests Limerick could need as many as between 2,000 and 4,300 homes to meet demand.

Alarmingly, just 5.4 per cent of “affordable” homes were delivered in Limerick, compared to 61 per cent in Dublin, highlighting a glaring regional disparity.

In 2023, non-household entities were responsible for almost 60 per cent of housing purchases across Limerick, while the national figure was almost 42 per cent.

Price increases are not solely levied on the purchasing sector, with rents in Limerick city soaring by almost 77 per cent over the past five years. Increases of over 60 per cent in rental costs are also observed in Clare.

The housing crisis is undermining competitiveness, hampering talent retention, increasing wage pressures, and forcing workers into long commutes due to limited urban availability.

Employment in the midwest has reached an all-time high of 274,000 at the time of writing the report, it now sits at 279,000, with unemployment now sitting at 3.4 per cent.

The region continues to attract international talent, ing for 8.3 per cent (1,905) of all national work permits issued. However, the report warns that talent shortages and inadequate infrastructure could stall growth if not urgently addressed.

Commenting on the positive figures relating to employment, chief economist and director of policy at Limerick Chamber, Seán Golden said, “The report also welcomes the continued trend of decreasing live figures, including youth unemployment.

"The report highlights, despite a slowdown of IDA ed employment at the national level, IDA ed employment in the midwest continues to grow, growing by 2.6 per cent in the previous year to over 27,000 employees.”

While the region’s educational institutions remain a major draw for investment, third-level enrolments among Irish students are declining.

This has, however, been somewhat mitigated by an increase in international students.

The report welcomes a surge in apprenticeships, now at over 2,500 for the first time, but flags the urgent need to maintain a strong talent pipeline to business growth.