In the first three months of 2026, the building of 8,408 homes were commenced.
There were 7,856 new dwelling completions in January, February, and March (Q1) 2026, a rise of 32.9% on the same three months of 2025 and the highest number of Q1 completions since the series began in 2011.
The national Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) increased by 6.5% in the 12 months to March 2026, down from the 6.7% recorded in the year to February 2026. Households paid an average price of €392,000 for a residential property in this period.
In Q1 2026, the number of workers employed in construction was 195,600, up from 177,800 in Q1 2025.
In April 2026, the price of Bituminous macadam and asphalt rose by 10.3%, making it the building material with the highest percentage price change over 12 months in the Wholesale Price Index for building and construction materials.
There was an annual increase of 7.9% in the total number of dwelling units granted planning permission from 32,401 units in 2024 to 34,974 in 2025. This compares with an annual decrease of 21.4% between 2023 and 2024.
Average hourly total labour costs for the Construction sector were €33.39 in Q1 2026, up from €32.11 in Q1 2025.
Average hourly earnings for the Construction sector were €29.00 in Q1 2026, up from €28.13 in Q1 2025.
The Housing Hub was launched by the CSO in 2024 to facilitate a growing need for housing statistics and more timely, easy to find, information. This is a single data resource on our website which gathers and automatically updates statistics on housing as they are published by the CSO and other public sector organisations through our open data portal, data.cso.ie. This allows users to search for data relevant to them, download it, and create visuals in a way that suits them best.
The structure of the Hub allows the flexibility to add new data as it becomes available, to include new topics, and to have more regular updates. The CSO welcomes comments and suggestions from users of this platform, which can be sent to housing@cso.ie.
The CSO’s Housing Division extends its appreciation to the various internal divisions in the CSO who helped in the development of the new Housing Hub. We also acknowledge the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) for the use of their data in the Housing Hub.
The local authority with the most units commenced in the first three months of 2026 was Fingal (1,048), followed by Dublin City (721).
Apartment units accounted for 41%, or 3,378 units, of total dwelling units granted permission in Q4 2025, an increase of 16% when compared with 2,922 units which received approval in Q4 2024.
The NDC Q1 data for 2026 shows:
In the 12 months to March 2026, house prices in Dublin rose by 5.1% while apartment prices increased by 7.8%. Outside of Dublin, house prices were up by 6.8% and apartment prices rose by 12.0%.
Looking at the Consumer Price Index, there was a 5.6% increase in local authority rents over the 12 months to December 2025.
In Q1 2026, the number of workers employed in Construction was 195,600. Among these, 62% mainly worked on new housing developments or renovations.
In 2025, the majority of households have internet access (95%), mainly fixed broadband (87%).
More than one third (35%) of dwellings with a Building Energy Rating (BER) received an A or B rating as of Q1 2026.
The median age of purchasers was unchanged at 40 years between 2022 and 2024, across all transaction types. Among sole purchasers, the median age fell from 43 to 42 in the same timeframe, whereas the median age for joint purchasers fell from 39 to 38.
In Q4 2024, the estimated national vacancy rate was 3.2% based on low electricity consumption. The Local Authorities with the highest vacancy rates in this period were Leitrim (7.8%), Donegal (6.3%), and Mayo (6.0%).
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Housing Hub
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (28 May 2026) published an update to the Housing Hub. The Hub uses the latest data from both the CSO and other public service bodies, to provide a comprehensive one-stop-shop for data related to housing in Ireland (See Editor’s Note below for more information).
Commenting on the Housing Hub, Steven Conroy, Statistician in the Housing Division, said: “The purpose of the Housing Hub is to collate statistics on housing in Ireland from the CSO and other public sector organisations in one easy-to-find location. The data in the Housing Hub is broken down into four main themes, Home Building, Property Prices & Rents, Cost of Building Homes, and Housing Features. We can analyse interesting statistics and trends under each of these themes.
The Housing Hub provides a general overview of the up most up to date housing statistics for Ireland, allowing us to see emerging trends. For example, when it comes to Home Building, there were 7,856 new dwelling completions in Q1 2026. This was an increase of 32.9% compared with the 5,911 completions in Q1 2025. This represents the highest number of Q1 completions since the series began in 2011.
Under Property Prices & Rents, the most recent data shows that residential property prices rose 6.5% in the 12 months to March 2026, down from the 6.7% increase recorded in the year to February 2026. Property prices in Dublin rose by 5.7% and prices outside Dublin were up by 7.2% compared with March 2025.
Looking at Costs of Building Homes and using statistics from the latest CSO Earnings and Labour Costs release, we see that average hourly total labour costs for the Construction sector were €33.39 in Q1 2026, up from €32.11 in Q1 2025.
For Housing Features, the latest Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland release shows the vast majority (95%) of households in Ireland had internet connectivity in 2025. Looking at internet access on a regional basis, household internet connectivity was highest for the Dublin region (97% of households), compared with 93% of households in the Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo), Mid-West (Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary), and South-East (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford) regions."