Rise in planning for houses in Louth but huge fall in apartments

Louth saw an increase in the first quarter of this year in the number of houses granted planning permission, compared to both the previous quarter and the same quarter last year, but there has been a huge fall in the number of apartments granted planning permission.

Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that planning permission was granted for 410 houses in Louth in the first three months of this year (Q1). This is up from 186 houses in the last quarter (Q4) of last year and up from 269 in the first quarter of last year. 

Of the 410 houses, 392 were multi development houses and 18 were one-off houses. The number of one-off houses granted planning is up three on the final quarter of last year, and also up three on Q1 2024.

Looking at apartments however, planning permission was granted for just 34 apartments in Louth in the first quarter of this year. This is down from 252 in the last quarter of 2024, and also down from 119 in the first quarter of 2024.

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Nationally, there was an annual decrease of 2.5% in the total number of dwelling units approved in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2025 to 8,177 units, down from 8,387 units in Q1 2024. In Q1 2025, the number of houses granted planning permission rose by 0.8% when compared with Q1 2024, while in contrast, apartment approvals fell by 7%. 

The number of multi-development houses receiving planning permission grew by 2.7% annually, from 3,611 units in Q1 2024 to 3,707 units in Q1 2025. There was an annual decrease of 4.5% in the number of one-off houses receiving planning permission in Q1 2025 compared with an annual increase of 1.5% in Q4 2024.