Cork bucking housing trend but slowdown maybe on way

A housing report published this week shows that while Cork may be bucking the national trend in terms of housing completions, a drop in the number of apartment commencements and planning permissions granted shows a slowdown may be on the horizon.

The latest Housing Market Monitor Q1 2025, published on Thursday by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), shows that housing completions in Ireland declined last year for the first time since 2013, excluding the 2020-2021 period, when the pandemic affected construction.

However, annualised housing completions in Cork from March 2024 to March 2025 increased to 3,567, the highest level since 2008.

Housing starts

Overall, Cork accounted for 12.3% of housing starts in the 12 months ending March 2025.

In Munster, the amount of apartment commencement was significantly up in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023, but has decreased beyond 2023 and 2024 levels in the first three months of this year.

Nationally, the number of residential units granted planning permission fell by 21% year on year in 2024 to 32,401.

The number of dwelling units approved in Munster accounted for 36.2% of permissions granted in Q4 2024, slightly less than approvals in Dublin, and the figures represent a considerable decrease from the last three months of the previous year.

Granted planning

Cork county accounted for almost 900 of the units granted planning permission at the end of last year.

Brian Hayes, chief executive of BPFI said that the figures were “discouraging” from a national perspective.

“Current indicators on commencements and planning permissions show a mixed picture in terms of housing output in the medium term.

“Commencement numbers for the first four months of 2025 are discouraging at 3,945 units, around 40% of the levels observed in 2023 and similar to levels seen back in 2016,” said Mr Hayes.