There has been a fall of 10% in the volume of output in residential construction in the second quarter of the year according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

However in contrast figures also show the overall volume in building and construction activity increased by 4% in the three month period compared to the same time last year.

This was due to strong annual growth in the civil engineering sector and the non-residential building sector, which saw growth rates of 36% and 22.7% respectively.

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The value of housing output fell by 6.2% in the second quarter.

Despite the slowdown in the housing market, separate figures from the Central Statistics Office show that planning permissions in the third quarter of 2007 were actually up 6% on the same time last year.

A total of 22,138 planning permissions were granted for dwelling units in the third quarter of this year. Exactly 15,838 planning permissions were for houses, that is up 2.3%. 6,300 were for apartments, an increase of 16.7% on the same time last year.

One-off houses accounted for 22% of all new dwelling units granted planning permission in the three month period.

(GK/SP)