Planning permissions for homes jump 22% as industry rebounds from Covid

Planning permissions for houses and apartments jumped 22 per cent in the third quarter as the construction industry rebounded from the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show the number of planning permissions granted for dwelling units between July and September was 12,942, of which 7,214 were apartments and 5,728 were houses.

This represented an annual increase of 22.2 per cent. The number of apartment units granted planning (7,214) was up 27.5 per cent.

Planning permissions for apartments rose considerably last year on the back of an overhaul in the planning guidelines, which made it more economic for developers to build.

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At the end of last year for the first time more apartments than houses were granted planning permission, a trend which has continued up to the current quarter, the CSO said.

One-off houses accounted for 13.6 per cent of all new dwelling units granted planning permission in the third quarter, while the total number of permissions granted for developments was 8,530.

Planning permissions are an imperfect guide to future building activity as many permissions never translate into homes.

Some are sought just to add value to land or to alter existing provisions. Equally, many building projects fail for financial reasons before the building phase begins.

The imposition of restrictions to curb coronavirus in April and May resulted in the closure of most building sites.

This is expected to curtail the supply of new homes coming on to the market, but not by as much as initially expected.

Various industry bodies are expecting housing completions of 19,000 to 20,000 units this year.