Cork permitted highest number of house unit applications in 2024

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has published a report on planning permissions for Quarter four (Q4) of 2024, which shows that Cork had the highest amount of house units permitted nationwide both annually and throughout this time period.

Data from the report, entitled Planning Permissions Quarter 4 and Year 2024, revealed that during the months of October, November and December, there were 6,890 dwelling units granted planning permissions nationwide, down 38.4% from 11,181 units in Q4 of 2023.

Of the total dwelling units granted planning permission in Q4, apartment units accounted for more than 42% (2,922), marking a decrease of 52% when compared with the 6,150 units which received approval in Q4 of 2023.

Among the 2,922 apartments granted planning permission in Q4 of 2024, 11% (307) were in Cork, ranking the area as having the second highest amount of apartments granted planning permission after Dublin, which accounted for 37% with 1,072 units.

There were 13,194 apartment units granted planning permission across 2024 as a whole, marking a decrease of 38.6% when compared with the 21,487 apartment units which received approval in 2023.

Of the 13,194 apartment units granted planning permission throughout last year, 1,282 or 10% were located in Cork.

Speaking to The Echo, Fianna Fáil Cork North-Central TD, Pádraig O’Sullivan, said that while these figures are “positive”, he understands that there are 11,000 units, which have planning permission across Cork city, that have not been activated.

“It’s quite clear that apartmen-type developments are what’s being encouraged by government — [so] we have to entice developers to deliver on those permissions, because we have no other way [of hitting] our target numbers if we don’t start delivering apartments across Cork city,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

“It’s positive — the more permissions you have the more opportunities you have for developers to actually develop land, but if developers continue to sit on permissions and not develop them, then the only other way to activate them will be to revisit the Residential Zoned Land Tax.

“There might come a time that if developers don’t wilfully activate, then government will need to get serious about implementing that,” he added.

“The thing I am most concerned about is services, more so in the county than in the city. If we don’t have the appropriate infrastructure then despite whatever land we zone, developers will not be able to proceed.

“The State and Irish Water have an awful lot of work to do to make sure that that infrastructure is there and ready for developers to tap into.”

In terms of house units granted planning permission in Q4 2024, Cork had the highest number at 655 units, representing a total of 17%.

Throughout 2024 as a whole, there were 19,207 house units permitted nationwide, with Cork having the highest amount permitted annually with 2,873 units (15%).

Sinn Féin Cork South-Central TD, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said: “We are all keen to see the delivery of adequate housing and obviously any progress with that is welcome.

“Unfortunately, the number of planning applications doesn’t necessarily lead to houses being built.

“We have many many planning approvals that have not led to development for a variety of reasons - in many instances it [is related to] issues with water infrastructure, road infrastructure and issues in terms of the ability of developers to deliver on the planning application.

“We need to address all these things if we are to ensure that there is adequate housing,” he added.

“We need to do an awful lot more to deliver actually affordable housing — we have too many people who are struggling to put together a mortgage to buy a house — if you are on a low or lower middle income, there is very very little [options].”