Number of homes granted planning in Louth fell by more than 700 last year

Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicate that there is no sign of a significant increase in the number of apartments being built in the near future in Louth, with the number of units granted planning permission in the county in 2025, less than a quarter of those granted planning permission in 2024, resulting in the number of homes granted planning in Louth last year falling by 724 units.

The CSO figures show that in the final three months (Q4) of 2025, planning permission was granted for 293 new homes in Louth, 246 houses and 47 apartments. This is up from 114 houses and 43 apartments in the third quarter (Q3) of 2025. 

Compared to Q4 2024, it is an increase in the number of houses granted planning, with 186 being given the go ahead in Q4 2024. In terms of apartments however, it is down from 252 apartments in Q4 2024.

2025 saw planning permission granted for 999 houses and 209 apartments in Louth, compared to 997 houses in 2024, and 935 apartments.

Looking at the houses granted planning permission in Q4 2025, 26 out of the 246 granted planning were one off houses, and 220 were in multi-unit developments.

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Nationally, there was an annual increase of 7.9% in the total number of dwelling units granted planning permission in 2025 to 34,974, up from 32,401 units in 2024. This compares with an annual decrease of 21.4% in 2024.

In 2025, the number of apartments granted planning permission rose by 8.8% when compared with 2024, while house approvals were up 7.3%.

There was an annual increase of 8.5% in the number of multi-development houses receiving planning permission in 2025, compared with a rise of 3.9% in one-off houses. There were 20,615 houses granted planning permission in 2025, which was the highest number in 16 years since 26,814 houses were approved in 2009.

In Q4 2025, the total number of dwelling units approved planning permission was up 19% to 8,208 units compared with 6,890 units in Q4 2024.

Planning permissions granted for houses rose by 22% in Q4 2025 compared with Q4 2024, while apartment unit permissions granted during the same period were up 16%.

Between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, an annual growth of 27% was recorded in the number of planning permissions granted for all developments, with 7,455 permissions approved in Q4 2025 compared with 5,878 in Q4 2024.