Planning Permissions Quarter 1 2022

Graphs and Tables

In the first quarter of 2022, the number of dwelling units granted planning permission was 8,463, of which 4,687 were houses and 3,776 were apartments. Compared with quarter 1 of 2021, there was an increase of 51.7% in houses granted permission, while apartments decreased by 2.5%. See Headline Table.

In quarter 1 of 2022, 2,606 multi-development houses and 2,081 one-off houses were granted planning permission. There were 3,776 apartments granted planning permission during the same period. See Figure 1 and Table 5a.

More houses than apartments were granted planning permission for the first time since quarter 2 of 2019. In the first quarter of 2022, planning permission was granted for 4,687 houses, accounting for 55.4% of all approvals granted for total dwelling units. See Figure 2 and Table 1a & Table 5a.

A total of 7,742 planning permissions were granted for all developments in the current quarter. Of these permissions, 2,430 were for new construction dwellings, 2,066 for other constructions, 1,981 for extensions and 1,265 for alterations and conversions. See Figure 3a and Table 2.

The 2,430 new construction dwelling permissions consisted of 2,081 approvals for one-off houses, 200 for apartments, 132 for multi-development houses and 17 for communal dwellings. See Figure 3b and Tables 5a & 5b.

There were 7,742 planning permissions granted for all developments in the first quarter of 2022. This compares with 7,511 permissions in the same period of 2021, an annual increase of 3.1%. There were annual increases of 23.8% in planning permissions granted for new construction dwellings and 1.7% for other constructions. During the same period there were decreases in approvals for extensions (-9.6%) and alterations and conversions (-4.5%). See Figure 3c and Table 2.

Planning permission was granted for 3,776 new apartments in the first quarter of 2022.

The region with the highest proportion of apartment units granted approval at 48.3% was Dublin with 1,824 apartments, followed by the Mid-East (24.6%) with 929 approvals and the South-West (9.2%) with 349 approvals. The Eastern and Midland Region (made up of Dublin, Mid-East and Midland regions) accounted for 2,842 apartment units, 75.3% of all new apartment units granted planning. The Southern Region (made up of Mid-West, South East and South West regions) accounted for 20.9% of apartments granted planning compared with 3.8% for the Northern and Western Region (Border and West). See Figure 4a and Table 6.

There were 4,687 housing units granted planning permission in the current quarter. The county with highest proportion of houses granted planning was Cork at 14.6% with 683 houses, followed by Kilkenny (6.4%) with 300 houses and Limerick at 6.2%, with 292 houses. Leitrim with 18 houses granted planning accounted for the lowest proportion. See Figure 4b and Table 8.

Dwelling units granted by type of application - SHD and non-SHD applications

The Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process 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.

In the current quarter, the number of SHD apartment units approved fell by 25.1% when compared with quarter 1 of 2021, while the number of SHD housing units approved rose by 281%. SHD apartment units accounted for 55.1% of all apartment units granted planning permission, with standard applications accounting for the remaining 44.9%. In the same period, 2,606 multi-development housing units were granted planning permission, of which 556 (21.3%) were Strategic Housing Development applications and 2,050 (78.7%) were standard applications. See Figure 5 and Table 7.