Ireland housing crisis: Planning delays push homebuilding to four years

Ireland’s housing crisis is being intensified by significant delays in the planning system. According to findings from the Central Bank, the average time from a planning application to the completion of a home has reached approximately four years.

This represents a substantial increase compared to 2016, when the timeline averaged between 21 and 26 months. The report indicates that the delay has grown steadily over the last decade. One-off homes and apartments now take roughly two and a half times longer to complete than they did in 2017, while larger housing schemes take nearly twice as long.

Industry representatives, including the Irish Home Builders Association, attribute these delays to lengthy local-authority assessments, the appeals process, staffing shortages, utility delays, and requests for further information. Large residential developments can spend between 18 months and two years in the planning phase alone. Additionally, between 15 and 20 per cent of schemes completed in 2024 were appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála, with those appeals taking an average of 13 to 14 months to process.