There was an annual fall of more than 9% in the number of one-off houses that were granted planning permission in the first quarter of the year, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
For the first quarter of 2023, 1,420 one-off houses received planning permission compared to 1,288 units for the same period this year.
This comes as there was an annual decrease of more than 28% in the total number of dwelling units approved in quarter one of 2024, down from 11,659 units in 2023 to 8,387.
Houses accounted for 58% of all dwelling units granted planning permission, while apartments made up the remaining 42%.
The number of houses granted planning permission fell by more than 20% and apartments granted permission fell by 36.7%.
There was an annual decrease of 57%, from 5,608 to 2,388, in the total number of Strategic Housing Developments (SHD) dwelling units approved, of which the number of houses approved declined by 50%.
Statistician in the enterprise statistics division of the CSO, Shane O’Sullivan said: “There were 2,213 dwelling units approved in Dublin (2,003 apartments and 210 houses), accounting for more than a quarter (26%) of all dwelling units granted planning permission in quarter one of 2024.
“During the same period, the border region (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, and Monaghan) recorded the lowest number of apartment units (29) granted planning permission.”
Of the 6,639 individual applications granted so far this year, there were 1,643 for new construction dwellings, 1,929 for other new constructions, 1,916 for extensions, and 1,151 permissions were for alterations and conversions.
Planning permission
The south-west region had the highest proportion of new houses approved with 20.8% or 1,020.
This was followed by the mid-east region, which had 20% or 979 house approvals, followed by the midlands, with 18.8% or 923 houses.
The eastern and midlands region (Dublin, mid-east, and midlands) accounted for 2,112 new houses, 43.1% of the total number of new houses granted planning permission.
The southern region (mid-west, south-east, and south-west) accounted for 38.4% or 1,881 of house approvals.
The northern and western region, including the border and the west accounted for the remaining 18.5% or 906 houses.