The Isle of Man’s housing crisis deepened in 2024, with just 150 new homes completed across the Island, the second-worst year on record, according to official figures quietly revealed last week by the Department of Infrastructure.
Of those completed homes, only 117 were “private” homes and 33 were “public” homes. Under the Government’s own definitions, private housing includes all new housing excluding affordable or publicly funded projects, while public housing covers all affordable housing, including first-time buyer schemes and public rental properties.
It’s a stark fall from earlier decades: between 2005 and 2009, annual completions averaged 395 homes a year. By contrast, from 2020 to 2024, the average has now collapsed to just 195 homes per year, less than half the rate of 15 years ago.
This collapse comes at a time when demand for housing has never been higher. Social changes including later marriage, higher divorce rates, more people living alone for longer, and more people working from home all drive the need for more homes.
Yet, while politicians talk about increasing the Island’s population by 20%, they keep refusing to allow Manx people to build housing to match demand.
The Isle of Man is building fewer homes now than at any time in modern history, and the consequences are being felt by every family struggling to pay excessively high rental and mortgage costs.