The number of residential planning permissions granted in the last three months of 2007 rose by 9 per cent to 17,733 compared with the same period the previous year, according to data released today by the Central Statistics Office.
However, only 54 per cent were for new properties. The remainder were for extensions and other new constructions.
Within that total was planning for 4,598 apartments, a rise of 44 per cent on the total number of apartment planning permissions secured over the same period last year.
The remaining permissions, 13,135 were for houses, which showed only a marginal increase compared to the October to December period in 2006.
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Almost a quarter of all planning permissions were for one-off houses.