There was an annual fall of 34% in the number of homes approved for planning permission across the four local authorities of Dublin in the first quarter of the year.
According to figures released by the Central Statistics Office, 1,452 dwelling units received approval in Dublin in the first three months of the year.
Of these, the number of apartments approved was down by 31.6%, while the number of houses approved decreased by 39.7%, falling from 643 units to 388 units.
The figures show that in the first quarter of the year there was an annual decline of 43.8% in the total number of Strategic Housing Developments (SHD) dwelling units approved, of which the number of apartments approved fell by just over 40%, compared with a fall of just over 48% in the number of houses approved.
Nationally, there was a decrease of 1% in the total number of homes approved for planning permission in the first three months of the year compared to the same quarter last year.
According to the CSO, 8,092 dwelling units received planning approval in the first quarter of 2026, down from 8,177 units a year ago.
Houses accounted for 61% of all dwelling units granted planning permission in the first quarter of the year, while apartments made up the remaining 39%.
In first three months of 2026, the number of apartments granted planning permission fell by 2.7% when compared with the first quarter of 2025, while the total number of house approvals remained static.
The number of multi-development houses receiving planning permission was down by 4% annually.
The number of one-off houses receiving planning permission rose by 12.4%.
There was an increase of 21.7% in the number of individual planning permissions granted for all developments with 7,933 permissions approved compared with 6,520 permissions last year.
Of theses, there were 1,789 for new construction dwellings, 2,489 for other new constructions, 2,060 for extensions, and 1,595 permissions were for alterations and conversions.
“Dublin had the highest number of apartment units granted planning permission in the state in Q1 2026 at 1,064 apartments or 34% of all apartments and accounted for 8% of house units approved (388),” said Shane O’Sullivan, CSO Statistician in the Housing Division.
“The Midlands region (Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath) recorded the lowest number of apartment units (77) granted planning permission,” he said.
“The South-West region (Cork and Kerry) accounted for the highest number of houses (1,045) granted planning, while the Dublin region recorded the lowest number of houses (388),” Mr O’Sullivan said.
In an advisory note, the CSO stated that the number of new dwelling units granted planning permission can vary significantly from quarter to quarter if a large development or a number of large developments are approved within the same reference quarter.
“Users should therefore exercise caution in extrapolating long-term trends on the basis of a single quarter’s data,” the CSO said.
