The slowdown in house building continued apace in the second quarter of 2007 with the volume of output in residential construction falling by 10 per cent.
But figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that despite the fall, the overall volume of output in building and construction activity increased by 4 per cent.
The increase was due to strong annual growth in the civil engineering sector, which rose 36.2 per cent and the non-residential building sector, which rose 22.7 per cent.
The value of housing output decreased, on an annual basis, by 6.2 per cent in the same period, the data showed.
Separate figures showed planning permissions were granted for 22,138 dwelling units, compared with 20,883 units for the same period in 2006, an increase of 6 per cent.
The total number of permissions granted for all developments in the third quarter of 2007 was 17,338. This compares to 14,515 in the third quarter of 2006, an increase of 19.4 per cent.
Planning permissions were granted for 15,838 houses in the third quarter of 2007 and 15,486 in the third quarter of 2006, an increase of 2.3 per cent.
One-off houses accounted for 22 per cent of all new dwelling units granted planning permission in this quarter.