The rate of decline in housing construction activity has eased slightly, according to a new national housing construction index survey.
The survey also found large increases in the number of people seeking extensions to planning applications.
The Link2plans published today examined data from local authorities for planning applications and for planning commencement notifications from January to April this year.
It found that overall planning applications were down 20%, compared to a fall of 23% the same time last year.
Three counties have all experienced a slight rise in applications with Donegal, Longford and Leitrim recording increases of between 2-4%.
The largest fall in applications is in Kildare and Kerry with both counties recording a decrease of 39%.
Housing commencement notices - described as a real time count of actual activity in the construction sector - were down 13% in the first four months of the year.
This compares to 14% the same time last year.
The largest fall is in Donegal, where the figures are down 35%, followed by Monaghan (34%) and Galway (31%). Eight counties have experienced percentage increases in commencement notices, including Cavan (12%), Westmeath (13%), Waterford (14%) and Longford, which saw a surge of 56%.
The survey also identified a large increase in the number of home builders or developers looking for an extension to the planning application as the original application was about to expire after five years.
