Official figures show that the number of planning permissions granted for new homes continued to fall sharply in the first quarter of this year.
The Central Statistics Office said 3,667 new homes were given permission, a drop of 33.4% compared with the same period last year.
Planning permissions for new houses are falling more slowly than in recent quarter - down 14.2% to 3,075. But the number of apartments granted permission was just 592, down 69.2% from a year earlier.
The CSO also said one-off houses accounted for just under a third of the homes granted planning permission in the three-month period at 30.7%.
