There are nearly 25,000 flats under construction in the Dublin region, but the number of houses with planning permission where work has commenced has fallen, according to a report to be published on Monday by the Department of Housing. The number of apartments under construction represented a 1.2 per cent year-on-year increase, said the Housing Supply Monitor Report for the first quarter of the year. However, it said planning permission for more than 41,000 apartments has not been “activated”, meaning construction had not started. This represented an increase of more than 5 per cent on the first quarter of last year.The number of houses under construction fell by about 13 per cent to 7,690 in the first quarter. More than 80 per cent of residential units with planning permission are apartments.Of permissions for 78,658 units for the Dublin area, a total of 31,936 had been activated, the report said. This comprised 8,462 units built and 23,474 under construction on 202 active sites.The figures are based on returns submitted by the four local authorities in the Dublin region.The regular reports set out details of Dublin’s housing supply pipeline in a given quarter: the number of permissions, how many are activated or started and the number of homes built or being built.A Government source said the latest report indicated that “the surge in housing commencements seen in previous years is continuing to move into the build phase, reflected in a notable uplift in apartment construction. A total of 24,246 apartments are currently being built on active sites across Dublin”.The source also said: “The continued rise in permissions, combined with strong levels of on-site activity, shows that the system is moving in the right direction and that homes are being delivered at scale.” The report said planning activity was also showing momentum. There were 13,647 units awaiting a decision on a planning application in the first quarter, a 5 per cent year-on-year reduction. “This marks a significant fall from the peak of 34,410 pending units recorded in quarter four of 2022 and reflects that the enhanced resourcing of An Coimisiún Pleanála has been effective in reducing the backlog”, Government sources said.In the Dublin City Council area, planning permission was in place for 28,498 new homes – of which 27,911 or 97.9 per cent were apartments. A further 3,119 proposed units were pending decisions on planning applications.“Of 28,498 permitted units, there is a cumulative total of 13,678 active permissions (an increase of 22.1 per cent year-on-year), comprising 1,523 units built to date and 12,155 units under construction on 71 active sites,” the report said. It said 13,312 or 97.3 per cent of active permissions were for apartments.