New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that planning permissions for both houses and apartments soared in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the same time in 2014.
The CSO figures show that planning permissions were granted for 4,017 homes in the fourth quarter of 2015 - up a massive 95% on the 2,057 the same time the previous year.
Planning permissions were secured for 2,754 houses in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to 1,905 in the fourth quarter of 2014, an increase of 44.6%.
Meanwhile, permissions for apartments soared by 730% to 1,263 apartment units in the last three months of last year, compared with 152 units the same time the previous year.
Today's figures show that once-off houses accounted for 22.7% of all new dwelling units granted planning permission in the three months from October to December.
Commenting on today figures, Davy analyst David McNamara said that they are perhaps a signal of a belated pick-up in housebuilding activity in Ireland.
However, Mr McNamara pointed out activity still remains at exceptionally low levels.
Planning permissions were granted for just 13,044 units in 2015, well below current demographic demand.
He also noted that "encouragingly" activity in Dublin was higher. 2,338 units were granted planning in the last three months of the year compared to 731 in the fourth quarter of 2014 and 1,064 in the third quarter of 2015.
This was split 50/50 between houses and apartments.
