Planning permissions for new homes rose by 60 per cent in the second quarter, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The agency said the total number of dwelling units approved in between April and June was 11,912, up from 7,447 in the same quarter of 2025.
Planning permissions are an imperfect guide to future building activity as many permissions never translate into homes given the uncertainty around infrastructure. Still, they can signpost shortcomings in the years ahead.
Permissions have averaged around 35,000 a year since 2021.
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The CSO said houses accounted for 53 per cent of all units granted planning permission in the second quarter, while apartments made up the remaining 47 per cent.
The number of apartments granted planning permission rose by 107 per cent when compared with the second quarter of last year, while the total number of house approvals was up by 33 per cent.
The number of multi-development houses receiving planning permission was up by 41.5 per cent annually, from 3,565 units in the same period last year to 5,046 units this year.
Across the four local authorities of Dublin, there was an annual increase of 78.5 per cent in the total number of housing units approved in the second quarter (3,241). Cork had the second largest number of dwelling units approved at 3,234 units.
The CSO data also highlighted that there was an annual increase of 157 per cent (2,465 to 6,345) in the total number of Strategic Housing Developments (SHD) dwelling units approved, of which the number of apartments approved rose by 230 per cent.
The latest permissions figures came as the Central Bank revised down its forecasts for home completions.
It now expects completions to total 39,500, 41,000 and 45,000 for 2026, 2027 and 2028 respectively, down from 40,000, 42,000 and 46,000 previously.
In a special report on housing contained in its latest quarterly bulletin, the bank noted that the link between permissions and completions in the State had “weakened over time”.
“A consistent share of planning approvals do not get built – of the housing units granted planning approval in each year from 2017 to 2020, around a quarter lapsed without construction commencing in the subsequent five years,” it stated.
