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Home Truths: One- and Two-Bedroom Housing Need and Supply
April 2025
Our fifth Home Truths paper highlights the significant under supply of relevant housing – now and for the foreseeable future, for one- and two-person households.
The report paints a picture of entrenched housing disadvantage for a significant portion of the population.
The number of one- and two-person households, already the majority household type across the country – is predicted to continue growing.
The majority of adults in emergency accommodation in Cork and Kerry are single households. Yet the majority of housing is three- and four-bed.
There are twice as many one- and two-person households in Cork City as there are one- and two-bedroom homes.
There’s little sign of the under-supply of much-needed one- and two-bed housing improving.
Home Truths: One- and Two-Bedroom Housing Need and Supply identifies apartment construction as a good indicator of future one- and two-bedroom housing supply, based on the Central Statistics Office (CSO) finding that 80% of apartments in Cork City are one- and two-bedroom units.
Approved planning permissions for apartment units in Cork City fell by 61% in 2024.
This is of particular concern given that less than one in four apartment units approved for planning between 2018 and 2022 were completed by the end of last year.
Latest CSO data shows new apartment completions in Cork City were down 10% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year. Building commencement notices for apartment units also fell in Cork City in Q1 2025 to their lowest quarterly number in five years.
“’Tis a one-bedroom I'd be kind of looking for. I do be seeing kind of like three- and four-bedroom up. But they're all well over two grand each kind of thing. It's a little to nothing for single people really. And if there was a single, you'd see the amount of views on it. There's too many people looking for the one accommodation kind of thing.”
– Barry
Single households and homelessness
- The majority of adults in homeless emergency accommodation present as single adults. They accounted for 76% of the 688 adults in emergency accommodation in March 2025 in the Southwest.
- Single adults are less likely than families to secure housing as a preventative measure to entering emergency accommodation. They are also less likely to exit emergency accommodation to a housing tenancy.
- The majority of households on the social housing waiting list in Cork City are single adults – accounting for 61%
Households in Cork and nationwide
- The majority of households in the country are one- and two-person households – accounting for 52% of households.
- 55% of households in Cork city are one- and two-person households.
One- and two-bedroom housing stock
- In Cork city, there are more than twice as many one- and two-person households as there are one- and two-bedroom homes.
- The reverse is the case with three- and four-person households and homes; in Cork city there are twice as many three- and four-bedroom homes as there are three- and four-person households.
- According to Eurostat 2023 data, 66% of homes in Ireland are under-occupied compared to the EU-27 average of 33%.
Growing trend
- It is anticipated that one- and two-person households will account for almost 55% of household growth in Cork city in the five years to 2028.
- The 2024 Housing Commission report identifies the growing need for a predominance of one- and two-bedroom homes in new housing supply.
“Oh it’s absolutely brutal. Yeah, it’s brutal... the lack of one-bedroom, two-bedrooms. There was a
house that went up today, yeah and 100 people viewing it. What do you have to do to get the house?
Like, it’s absolutely crazy, yeah? That was a two-bed. I give up. The dog box would do at this stage."
– Adam
