CSO says apartment planning approvals halved

The level of planning permission granted for the development of new apartments has fallen dramatically over the last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

However, the report also shows there was an increase in the number of one-off houses approved in the final quarter of last year as a percentage of all new dwelling units.

Overall, the total number of houses which received planning permission last year was 75,650 - an increase of 8.7 per cent.

The CSO report says the number of planning permissions granted for new apartments fell by more than 49 per cent in the final quarter of last year compared with the same period in 2004. It says that planning permissions were granted for 4,594 new apartments in the final quarter of 2005.

In the same period in 2004, 9,018 new apartment units received planning permission.

More than 1,400 of the new apartments which received planning permission in the final quarter of last year were in Dublin.

Overall last year, planning permission was granted for just over 23,700 new apartments. In 2004, planning permission was granted for the development of more than 32,000 new apartments.

The CSO report also shows one-off houses accounted for 23.2 per cent of all new dwelling units which received planning permission in the final quarter of last year. This compares with 19.4 per cent for the same period in 2004.

According to the report, planning permission was granted by local authorities for 4,933 new one-off houses in the final quarter of 2005. In the same period in 2004, planning permission was granted for 5,004 one-off houses.

The largest number of planning permissions for one-off houses - 564 - was granted in Cork city and county in the final quarter of 2005.

There were 483 planning permissions granted for one-off houses in Galway city and county in the same period.

In Co Donegal, planning permission was granted for 415 one-off houses in the final quarter of 2005.

The report says the total number of dwelling units which received planning permission last year fell by 2.3 per cent from 101,653 in 2004 to 99,352.

The number of houses which were granted planning permission increased by 8.7 per cent from 69,576 to 75,650.