Planning permissions for new housing units in the Dublin area have increased over the last year but construction activity has fallen, a new report will show.
The report, by 4Dublin Housing Supply Pipeline, will be published by the Department of Housing on Monday. It will say that, as of the second quarter of 2026, planning permission has been granted at sites in the region to build more than 80,000 homes. This is an increase of 2.3 per cent year-on-year compared with 2025.
The report says there were 33,623 housing units under construction across the four local authority areas in Dublin in the second quarter. However, this represented a fall of nearly 7 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year.
The report says of the 80,285 housing units with planning permission, 33,623 or 41.9 per cent had been commenced. This comprises 10,097 units where building had been completed and 23,526 which were under construction on 209 active sites.
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More than 25,000 residential units, or 75 per cent of the total where planning permission was commenced, were apartments.
The Department of Housing said: “The news on apartments is particularly welcome. Of the 80,285 permissions, the number of permitted apartments continue to rise – to 66,692, with a particular increase in Dublin City Council (area), where there are currently 28,735 apartments with planning permission in place.
“A further 15,695 homes are currently awaiting planning decisions, with more than 90 per cent of applications processed to date having been granted permission.”
The Department said in the second quarter of the year, “activity on the ground continued to strengthen”.
“Fifteen new sites commenced construction in this quarter, bringing a further 998 homes into the build phase. At the same time, 12 housing schemes were completed, delivering 1,389 new homes to the market in this quarter. These include homes delivered as part of the phased development of the Clonburris and Cherrywood strategic development zones.”
The report will state that in the second quarter there were 11 ongoing judicial review cases relating to just under 4,000 housing units. This was down 9.3 per cent year-on-year.
Of these, six judicial review cases related to large residential developments and five were in connection with strategic housing development sites.
“These judicial reviews affect 4.9 per cent of permitted units or 8.5 per cent of uncommenced units," the report finds.
The report will say that in the Dublin City Council area in the second quarter, planning permission is in place for 29,612 new homes. About 97 per cent of these – 28,735 – are apartments. An additional 4,833 proposed units are awaiting planning decisions or applications.
“Of 29,612 permitted units, there is a cumulative total of 14,821 active permissions (up 9.1 per cent year-on-year), comprising 2,243 units built to date and 12,578 units under construction on 76 active sites. [A total of] 14,455 or 97.5 per cent of active permissions are apartments.”
The area with the second highest level of approvals in place for new housing is Fingal.
“Planning permission is in place in Fingal County Council for 19,434 new homes (12,413 of which are apartments), with a further 6,475 proposed units pending decisions on planning applications,” it added.
