Last updated: August 2026. Human compiled and fact checked against each named source on 20 August 2026.
Ireland extends and renovates far more homes than it builds. In 2025 planning authorities granted 8,232 permissions for extensions and 5,469 for alterations and conversions, against 6,622 for new construction dwellings. Add a record year for SEAI home energy upgrades, a refurbishment grant that has paid out more than €348 million, and new planning exemptions from 27 July 2026, and the need for one reference page is clear. This page gathers the current Irish figures on home extensions, renovations, retrofits, grants and building costs, each linked to its primary source, for journalists, architects, surveyors, lenders and homeowners who need a number they can cite.
Key Home Renovation and Extension Statistics for Ireland at a Glance
- 8,232 planning permissions were granted for extensions in Ireland in 2025, 27.8% of the 29,574 permissions granted for all developments (share calculated). Source: CSO, Planning Permissions Quarter 4 and Year 2025
- 7,193 of those extension permissions were for dwellings, and 2,502 of them (34.8%, calculated) were in the four Dublin local authorities. Source: CSO, table BHQ13, annual totals calculated from quarterly data
- 2,060 extension permissions were granted in Quarter 1 2026, up 4.0% on a year earlier, while permissions for alterations and conversions rose 45.0% to 1,595. Source: CSO, Planning Permissions Quarter 1 2026
- Planning permission was granted for 478,050 square metres of dwelling extension floor area in 2025, an average of about 66 square metres per permission (calculated). Source: CSO, table BHQ14
- The planning exemption for extending a house rose from 40 to 45 square metres on 27 July 2026, and dormer roof boxes and roof lights became exempt for the first time. Source: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, 27 July 2026
- Over 58,000 SEAI supported home energy upgrades were completed in 2025, 8% more than in 2024, and the 2026 target is 73,000. Sources: SEAI, end of year statement, January 2026 and SEAI, April 2026
- 14,377 Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant applications have been approved since July 2022 and €348.6 million has been paid on 6,312 completed refurbishments. Source: Department of Housing, 17 July 2026
- The minimum base cost of rebuilding a 98 square metre three bed semi in Dublin is €331,340, or €3,381 per square metre, after a 7% national rise in rebuilding costs in 12 months. Source: SCSI, House Rebuilding Cost Guide, November 2025
- Wholesale prices for building and construction materials stood at 131.2 in June 2026 (2021 = 100), 3.1% higher than a year earlier and 40.0% above January 2021 (calculated). Source: CSO, Wholesale Price Index, table WPM39
- Two thirds of Ireland’s occupied homes (66.9%, calculated) were built before 2001, and 29.2% were built before 1971. Source: CSO, Census 2022, table FY033A
How Many Home Extensions Get Planning Permission in Ireland
The CSO counts every planning permission granted by type of development, and extensions are the single largest category after new construction. In 2025 there were 29,574 permissions granted for all developments: 6,622 for new construction dwellings, 9,251 for other new constructions, 8,232 for extensions and 5,469 for alterations and conversions, according to the CSO Planning Permissions release for Quarter 4 and Year 2025. Extensions plus alterations and conversions came to 13,701 permissions, or 46.3% of everything approved that year (calculated from the same release).
Most of those extensions are to homes. Summing the four quarters of the CSO’s table BHQ13 gives 7,193 permissions for extensions to dwellings in 2025 and 4,138 for alterations and conversions to dwellings. The dwelling extension total has grown from 6,244 in 2019, a rise of 15.2% (calculated), with a pandemic era peak of 8,149 in 2021.
The momentum carried into 2026. The CSO Planning Permissions release for Quarter 1 2026 recorded 7,933 permissions for all developments, up 21.7% year on year, of which 2,060 were for extensions (up 4.0%) and 1,595 were for alterations and conversions (up 45.0%). Of the 4,821 permissions relating to dwellings in that quarter, 1,789 were for new construction, 1,792 were for extensions and 1,240 were for alterations and conversions. Extensions therefore narrowly outnumbered new dwellings among dwelling permissions in that quarter.
Dublin’s Share of Extension Permissions
Dublin homeowners account for roughly a third of all dwelling extension approvals in the State. Across the four Dublin local authorities, CSO table BHQ13 records 2,502 permissions for dwelling extensions in 2025 and 1,782 for alterations and conversions to dwellings. That Dublin extension figure is 34.8% of the national dwelling extension total (calculated), while Dublin holds 28.2% of the State’s occupied households (calculated from Census 2022 table FY033A), so Dublin extends at a higher rate than the country as a whole. The neighbouring Mid-East region (Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth) added a further 959 dwelling extension permissions in 2025.
In Quarter 1 2026 Dublin recorded 586 dwelling extension permissions and 509 for alterations and conversions to dwellings, from the same CSO table. Dublin extensions also tend to be smaller than the national average, which fits a city of terraced and semi detached houses on tighter plots.
How Big Irish Extensions Are
The CSO also records the total floor area for which permission is granted. Table BHQ14 shows 478,050 square metres of dwelling extension floor area approved in 2025, up from 447,235 square metres in 2024, an increase of 6.9% (calculated). Dividing the 2025 floor area by the 7,193 dwelling extension permissions gives an average of about 66 square metres per permission (calculated, noting that a small number of permissions cover more than one dwelling). In Dublin the equivalent figures are 116,348 square metres across 2,502 permissions, or about 46 square metres per permission (calculated). The first quarter of 2026 alone added 121,492 square metres of approved dwelling extension space nationally.
Those averages sit above the exempt development threshold, which is why so many extensions still go through the planning system.
What Changed in the Planning Rules in July 2026
New Exempted Development Regulations for residential dwellings came into effect on 27 July 2026, the first substantial update in almost 25 years according to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The changes followed a 2025 public consultation that received almost 1,000 submissions. The table summarises the headline thresholds as stated in that announcement. Building Regulations, Building Control and Fire Regulations still apply in every case, and the detailed conditions in the regulations decide whether a specific project is exempt.
| Measure | Before 27 July 2026 | From 27 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Extension of the principal dwelling | 40 square metres | 45 square metres |
| Structure in the back garden (shed, store, home office, gym) | 25 square metres | 30 square metres |
| Dormer roof box and/or roof light on the principal dwelling | Not exempt | New exemption |
| Detached auxiliary habitable dwelling to the rear, linked to the main house services | Not exempt | New exemption, 32 to 45 square metres |
| Sub-division of the principal dwelling into one additional self-contained unit | Not exempt | New exemption, minimum 32 square metres per unit |
| External wall insulation | Not exempt | New exemption, in line with SEAI grant provision |
| Heat pump | Rear of property only | No longer restricted to the rear |
Source for all rows: Department of Housing press release, 27 July 2026.
The Age and Shape of the Homes Being Renovated
Renovation demand follows the age of the stock. Census 2022 counted a housing stock of 2,112,121 dwellings, up more than 5% since 2016, of which 1.85 million were occupied and 163,433 were vacant on census night, according to the CSO Census 2022 Profile 2, Housing in Ireland. Just under 48,000 of those vacant homes had also been vacant in 2016. More than 655,000 occupied dwellings, 36% of the total, had three bedrooms.
Using Census table FY033A and excluding households where the year of construction was not stated, 523,039 occupied homes (29.2%) were built before 1971 and 1,200,514 (66.9%) were built before 2001, meaning two in three Irish homes predate the 2001 and later energy standards in the Building Regulations (shares calculated). Dublin’s stock is older again: 35.4% of stated occupied dwellings across the four Dublin local authorities were built before 1971 and 72.5% before 2001 (calculated from the same table). Semi detached and terraced houses make up 63.3% of Dublin’s 518,490 occupied homes, against 45.7% nationally (calculated), which is why the typical Dublin project is a rear extension to a semi or an attic conversion. Permissions for alterations and conversions to dwellings, the category attic conversions fall into, rose 38.1% in 2025 to 4,138; our attic conversion statistics for Ireland covers that category in full.
Ireland is also unusual in Europe in how house based it is. Eurostat’s Housing in Europe, 2025 edition reports that 90% of Ireland’s population lived in a house in 2024, the highest share in the EU against an EU average of 51%, and that 67% of the Irish population lived in an under-occupied home, second only to Cyprus. Houses with spare rooms and older fabric are the homes that get extended and retrofitted.
Energy Upgrades and Retrofits
Since this page was compiled, the BER scale itself has changed: a new A0 rating for zero emission homes arrived on 24 May 2026, and 3,006 dwellings had received it by the end of June. Our home energy and retrofit statistics for Ireland covers the new scale, ratings and grants in full.
2025 was the highest year on record for SEAI grant supported upgrades. The SEAI end of year statement reports over 58,000 home energy upgrades completed in 2025, 8% more than in 2024, a record €645 million invested across all SEAI programmes, over 8,000 homes at risk of fuel poverty upgraded free of charge under the Warmer Homes Scheme, and more than 102,000 homes grant aided for solar PV since 2018, a third of them in 2025.
Demand then accelerated. In April 2026 SEAI and the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment reported that overall grant applications were up 96% in Quarter 1 2026 year on year and applications for individual upgrades were up 186%, with 29,000 applications processed between January and March. That included over 7,000 applications for the new windows and doors grant, over 1,730 for attic insulation (up 81%), over 1,000 for cavity wall insulation (up 62%) and over 350 for heat pumps (up 95%). Budget 2026 allocated a record €640 million to target 73,000 home energy upgrades this year, 25.9% more than the 2025 outturn (calculated), and 257,000 upgrades have been delivered since 2019 with Government funding of over €1.7 billion.
The current individual grant ceilings, as listed on the SEAI individual energy grants page in August 2026, are set out below.
| SEAI individual home energy grant | Maximum grant |
|---|---|
| Attic insulation | €2,000 (€2,500 for first time buyers and homeowners on qualifying welfare payments) |
| Wall insulation (cavity, external or internal) | €8,000 |
| Windows | €4,000 |
| Doors | €1,600 |
| Heat pump system | €12,500 |
| Heating controls | €700 |
| Solar PV | €1,800 |
| Solar water heating | €1,200 |
Building Energy Ratings Before and After Work
The CSO’s Domestic Building Energy Ratings release for Quarter 1 2026 shows how much of the stock still has headroom. Of the 1.35 million unique dwellings rated since 2009, 18% were rated A, 17% B and 31% C, so 35% carry an A or B rating and the remaining 65% are rated C or lower (remainder calculated). A ratings went to over 99% of audited dwellings built since 2020 but to only 6% of those built between 2005 and 2009. Dublin 18 had the highest share of A rated dwellings among the Dublin postal districts at 44%, followed by Dublin 13 at 31%. Among homes assessed more than once, over 220,000 improved by at least one full letter, and 51% of those moved from C or below to an A or B, the clearest national measure of what a deep renovation achieves.
Vacant and Derelict Homes Brought Back Into Use
The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant has become one of the largest renovation programmes in the State. According to the Department of Housing statement of 17 July 2026, 14,377 applications had been approved since the scheme began in July 2022, 6,312 grants had been paid on completion of works (43.9% of approvals, calculated), and €348.6 million had been issued. In Quarter 2 2026 alone €52.6 million was paid out, bringing 923 vacant homes back into use, and local authorities received 1,157 applications between April and June including 37 under the Vacant Above the Shop Grant introduced on 1 April 2026. The Department summarises this as six previously vacant properties returned to use every working day.
The grant itself is worth up to €50,000 for a property vacant for at least two years and built before 2008, rising to €70,000 where the property is confirmed derelict, per the scheme page on gov.ie, with higher ceilings where a former commercial building is converted into two or more homes.
Adapting Homes for Older People and People With a Disability
A second stream of renovation work is funded through the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People. The Department of Housing announced on 9 March 2026 that 15,700 grant claims were processed across the 31 local authorities in 2025, and that €129.5 million in exchequer funding plus local authority contributions will bring 2026 funding to over €152 million and around 17,000 claims. Grants are worth up to €40,000 for adaptations for a disabled person, up to €10,700 for repairs or improvements for older people and up to €8,000 for mobility aids. The four Dublin local authorities have a projected combined allocation of €35.98 million for 2026, 23.6% of the national total (calculated from the county table in the same announcement). Level access bathrooms, ramps and ground floor bedrooms are typical works.
What Renovation and Rebuilding Costs in 2026
The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland’s House Rebuilding Cost Guide published on 4 November 2025 put the national rise in house rebuilding costs at 7% over 12 months, up from 6% the previous year. Dublin rose 5% to €3,381 per square metre, which makes the minimum base rebuild cost of a typical 98 square metre three bed semi €331,340. The lowest regional rate was the North West at €2,756 per square metre, or €270,090 for the same house. The SCSI attributed the increases to labour costs and availability, competition from other construction work, and the Landfill Levy (1 September 2024) and Recovery Levy (1 January 2025). Rebuilding costs are an insurance benchmark rather than a renovation quote, but they are the best published regional indicator of finished construction cost per square metre.
Materials inflation has eased but not reversed. The CSO’s Wholesale Price Index for building and construction materials stood at 131.2 in June 2026 on a 2021 = 100 base, 3.1% higher than June 2025, and 40.0% above the 93.7 recorded in January 2021 (calculated). Within that, ready mixed mortar and concrete was up 8.7% year on year, paints, oils and varnishes up 8.4%, rough timber up 5.2% and glass up 4.0%, while cement fell 5.3% and electrical fittings fell 4.1%. The index is updated monthly and the July 2026 figure is due in late August.
Renovation Against the Backdrop of New Building
New supply is rising but remains small relative to the stock. The CSO recorded 36,284 new dwelling completions in 2025, up 20.4% on 2024 and the highest since the series began in 2011, per the New Dwelling Completions release for Quarter 4 2025. The Quarter 2 2026 release then showed 8,823 completions, down 3.6% year on year, with Dublin down 16.4%. Against a stock of more than 2.1 million dwellings, a record year of completions adds about 1.7% (calculated), so extensions, conversions and retrofits remain the main way Irish housing changes from one year to the next.
Method and Sources
Every figure was taken from the named primary source on 20 August 2026: CSO Planning Permissions Quarter 1 2026 (10 June 2026) and Quarter 4 and Year 2025 (12 March 2026) with tables BHQ13 and BHQ14; CSO Census 2022 Profile 2 and table FY033A; CSO Domestic BER Quarter 1 2026 (1 May 2026); CSO New Dwelling Completions Quarter 4 2025 and Quarter 2 2026; CSO table WPM39 (June 2026 data, released 22 July 2026); SEAI statements of 9 January and 21 April 2026 and the SEAI grants page; the SCSI press release of 4 November 2025; Department of Housing statements of 9 March, 17 July and 27 July 2026 and the grant scheme page; and Eurostat Housing in Europe 2025. Figures marked calculated were derived by OS Holding from the cited table or release (annual sums of quarterly data, regional shares, averages per permission, and period built shares excluding “not stated”). The page will be refreshed when CSO Planning Permissions Quarter 2 2026 (expected September 2026) and Domestic BER Quarter 2 2026 publish, and after each SEAI and Department of Housing quarterly statement.
How OS Holding Helps
OS Holding is a Dublin building contractor that designs and builds house extensions, attic conversions and full house renovations across Dublin and the surrounding counties, including insulation and bathroom work of the kind the grants above support. If you want to understand what the 45 square metre exemption or a grant means for your home, contact the team for a site visit and a written quote. Journalists and researchers are welcome to quote any figure here with a link to the source and to this page.
