Cork bucks trend with houses granted planning

Cork saw an increase in homes granted planning permission in the second quarter of this year compared to the first, despite a decline nationally, new CSO data shows.

A total of 1,198 homes were granted permission in Cork in the fourth, fifth, and sixth months of 2025 across housing types including as part of a housing scheme, one-off houses and apartment units. This is a 25% increase from the 959 units granted permission in the first three months of the year, with the figures representing a 30% rise in Cork city and an 18% increase in the county.

In Cork City, 716 housing units were granted permission in the second quarter of this year; 359 multi-development or scheme houses, five one-off houses, and 352 apartments.

This marks a slight increase from the first quarter of the year, where 122 scheme houses, 14 one-off houses, and 415 apartments were granted permission, a total of 551 units.

In Cork county, 482 units in total were granted permission; 281 scheme houses, 112 one-off houses, and 89 apartments in April, May and June this year. Cork county saw 408 units in total granted permission in the previous quarter of the year; 227 scheme houses, 126 one off houses and 55 apartment units.

The Cork figures increasing goes against the national trend — in Ireland in total, 7,447 units were granted permission in Q2 of this year; 3,565 scheme houses, 1,157 one-off houses and 2,725 apartments. In Q1 of this year, there were 8,177 units granted permission in total; 3,707 scheme houses, 1,230 one-off houses and 3,240 apartments across the whole country.

The figures for April, May, and June 2025 mark a 9% decrease compared to the first three months of the year. The latest figures bring the number of homes granted planning permission in Cork this year to 2,157, meaning that nearly 14% of the 15,624 homes granted permission across Ireland were in Cork.