Apartments now account for four in ten homes granted planning permission

New CSO figures found Dublin accounted for just over half of all apartments approved in 2025, followed by Cork at 15%

Residential apartment blocks under construction in Cork Docklands at Marquee Road/ Centre Park Road/ Monahan Road, Cork City. Picture Larry Cummins

Apartment units accounted for more than four in ten of total homes granted planning permission in 2025, with more than 14,300 units being approved in the year.

New figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Thursday found that the number of apartments granted planning permission last year rose by almost 9% annually, and accounted for 41% of the total dwelling units green-lit in 2025.

Last year saw just under 35,000 homes in total receive planning permission, which was up by almost 8% on the previous year. 

Dublin accounted for just over half of all apartments approved in 2025, followed by Cork at 15%, and Meath at 5%.

In terms of house units granted planning permission in 2025, Cork accounted for the largest number with 15%, followed by Dublin at 10%, and Wicklow at 9%.

“The 7.9% increase in the number of dwelling units granted planning permission in 2025 is promising, signalling potential future growth in housing supply," said chairperson of Irish Mortgage Advisors, Trevor Grant. 

High construction inflation

"However, we must remember that planning approvals alone do not guarantee that homes will be built.

"High building materials inflation and high construction earnings are critical challenges for the building industry which must also be tackled."

CSO figures also show an almost 4% rise in one-off houses granted planning permission in 2025 compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, there were 8.5% more multi-development house units approved than in 2024.

Overall, there were 20,615 houses granted permission last year, the highest number in 16 years since 26,814 houses were approved in 2009.

Last year also saw an annual increase of 28% in the total number of Strategic Housing Developments (SHD) dwelling units approved, compared with an annual decrease of 46% in 2024, the CSO noted.

Mr Grant added that the rise in house prices in Ireland was directly linked to planning approvals, nothing: "Unless there’s a steady pipeline of approved developments, housing delivery will be sluggish and in turn, steep house price and rent inflation will persist.

"Despite the increase in planning permission approvals, the planning system remains one of the biggest obstacles to housing delivery. Planning and infrastructure delays continue to stall the building of thousands of new homes. 

"If these delays can be eliminated, more development projects will be brought to fruition and more homes will become available for, and affordable, to the many that need them.”