Planning permission is being granted for increasingly fewer apartments, while the number of new houses getting permission is on the rise, the most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
More than one quarter fewer apartments were granted planning permission in the third quarter of 2004 than in the same period last year, according to the CSO's quarterly bulletin.
At the same time, over 18 per cent more houses were granted planning permission than in the third quarter of last year.
The number of new dwellings, which include houses and apartments, securing planning permission has increased only marginally in the third quarter, up from 24,459 in 2003 to 24,496, an increase of 0.2 per cent.
One-off houses in rural areas accounted for almost a quarter (24.7 per cent) of all new dwellings granted planning permission in the third quarter of 2004.
Planning permission was granted to 7,399 apartments during the period, compared with 10,065 in the third quarter of 2003. During the same interval the number of new houses securing planning permission rose from 14,394 to 17,097.
The border, midlands and western region approved 2,977 one-off houses in the first quarter, slightly less than the 3,069 approved in the southern and eastern region.
The border region, which also includes Sligo, had the highest number of permissions granted for one-off houses, at 1,384. The west - Galway, Mayo and Roscommon - had the next highest at 1,212.
