Nationally, permissions for all dwelling units have declined 12.5 per cent, compared to a 20 per cent drop across Galway’s combined city and county local authority areas.
When planning grants for apartments are removed from calculations however, Galway is performing well, being the third highest county for number of house permissions between May and August.
Fewer than 600 homes were granted planning permission across Galway in the second quarter of this year. Permissions were successfully sought for 439 houses and 107 apartments.
In Galway city, 110 houses and 71 apartment units were granted permission during this period. In the county, 329 houses and 26 apartments were approved.
During the same, second quarter last year, 339 houses and 342 apartment units were approved across Galway: a total of 681 units permitted, compared to just 546 for the same period this year – a whopping 19.8 per cent negative change, mostly attributed to a slow down in applications for apartment blocks.
The CSO planning permission figures are a solid indication of future building activity, and are keenly anticipated by policy makers and construction professionals.
Nationally, 4,722 dwellings received planning permission this quarter, with just 439 across Galway - around 9 per cent of all permissions. Galway’s rising population, currently around 277,000 inhabitants, accounts for just over 5 per cent of the population of the Republic of Ireland.
In terms of houses minus apartments, Cork county had the highest proportion of planning permission across the state this quarter, with 757 houses, accounting for 16 per cent of all grants.
Dublin county had the second highest number of houses granted planning permission at just over 12 per cent (583 houses ), followed by Galway at 9 per cent (439 houses ).
So far this year, 1,358 permissions have been granted for houses across the west of Ireland, compared to 9,659 nationally.
The first half of last year saw only 1,036 houses granted permission across the west, compared to a similar year-on-year figure of 9,956 nationally.
For CSO purposes, the ‘west’ refers to counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.
