Press Statement

Preasráiteas

12 March 2021

Go to release: Planning Permissions Quarter 4 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (12 March 2021) released Planning Permissions Quarter 4 2020.

Commenting on the data, Statistician Sorcha O’Callaghan said: “More apartments than houses were granted planning permission in 2020. Planning permissions were granted for 26,224 apartments, compared with 19,591 in 2019, an increase of 33.9%.  

In 2019, we saw the first annual decrease since 2012 in the number of houses granted planning permission. Similarly, 2020 saw a further decline, as 18,314 planning permissions were granted for houses, compared with 19,651 in 2019, a decrease of 6.8%.

In 2020, 76.2% of the apartments granted planning permission were via Strategic Housing Development (SHD) applications. This is where applications for developments of at least 100 residential units or 200-plus student bed spaces can be made directly to An Bord Pleanála. Permissions were granted for 5,910 new houses and 19,989 new apartment units via SHD applications in 2020.

The total number of planning permissions granted for all developments was 25,597 in 2020 compared with 27,891 in 2019, a decrease of 8.2%. Of this, almost 26% of permissions were for new dwellings, 31% for other new constructions and 43% for extensions, alterations & conversions. Floor area granted for extensions has been steadily declining since 2017. Permissions were granted for 819,000 square metres of extensions in 2020 compared to 925,000 square metres in 2019." 

-- ENDS --