Planning permissions for new homes surge in Q3
Ireland’s construction pipeline strengthened sharply in the third quarter of 2025, with planning permissions for new homes rising to their highest level in nearly two years, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The data shows that 11,142 dwelling units were approved between July and September, a 29.4% increase on the 8,611 units approved in the same period last year and the strongest quarter since Q4 2023, when 11,181 units were granted permission.
Houses accounted for 55% of approvals in Q3 2025, with apartments making up the remaining 45%.
Apartment approvals saw particularly strong momentum, rising 51.2% year-on-year, while house approvals climbed 15.7%.
Multi-development houses grew by 14%, reaching 4,676 units, while one-off house approvals rose by 21.6% to 1,450 units.
Overall, individual planning permissions for all types of developments rose sharply, up 27.6% annually to 8,541.
One of the most striking trends emerged in Dublin. Across the four local authorities, total dwelling approvals rose 47.9% to 3,132 units.
Apartment activity more than doubled, soaring from 1,293 to 2,782 units. In contrast, house approvals fell 57.5%, dropping to just 350 units. Dublin accounted for 55% of all apartments approved nationwide and 28% of all dwellings approved.
Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) also rebounded significantly. The total number of SHD dwelling units approved increased by 59.5% to 5,692 units. Within this, apartment approvals almost doubled (+97.8%), while house approvals rose 24.7%.
Commenting on the release, Shane O'Sullivan, Statistician in the Housing Division, said: “The number of dwelling units granted planning permission in July, August, and September (Q3) 2025 was 11,142, of which, 6,126 were for houses and 5,016 were for apartments.
“This was the highest number of units approved since Q4 2023 when dwelling unit approvals totalled 11,181.
“The number of apartments approved increased by 51.2% when compared with Q3 2024.
“The number of houses approved in Q3 2025 rose by 15.7% over the same period.
“There was an annual rise of 29.4% in the total number of dwelling unit approvals in Q3 2025, following an annual fall of 12.5% in Q2 2025.
“Dublin had the highest number of apartment units granted planning permission in the state in Q3 2025 at 2,782 apartments or 55% of all apartments and accounted for 6% of house units approved (350)…
Houses accounted for 55% of approvals in Q3 2025, with apartments making up the remaining 45%.
“The Midlands region recorded the lowest number of apartment units (54)… The Mid-East region accounted for the highest number of houses (1,589)…
“Of the 8,541 individual applications for planning permissions granted in Q3 2025, there were 1,842 for new construction dwellings, 2,700 for other new constructions, 2,328 for extensions, and 1,671 permissions were for alterations and conversions.”
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