A total of 723 home commencements were filed last month, the lowest recorded since February 2021, new figures from the Department of Housing show.
Starts recorded in March represented an 85 per cent reduction from March 2024, when 4,909 were lodged.
It was the lowest monthly figure since 522 were recorded in February 2021 when the construction sector was affected during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Beyond that, last month saw the lowest number of commencement notices since 662 were filed in March 2016.
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Department figures published on Thursday show 2,918 starts so far this year, compared to 11,989 in the same period last year.
In total, 69,060 starts were recorded in 2024, up from 32,801 in 2023 and a level not seen since the Celtic Tiger era.
Commencement notices are papers filed by developers to signal their intent to begin building.
However, the surge in such notices was accelerated by waivers on development levies and rebates on water charges, which were originally due to lapse in April 2024 but were later extended.
The incentives which were designed to stimulate house building “reduced the accuracy” as a metric for the delivery of homes, according to a monthly housing update published by the Department of Finance in February.
The highest number of commencements lodged last month was for homes to be built in Kildare (170), followed by Donegal (71), while the lowest was recorded for Longford (3), Tipperary (3), Monaghan (4) and Wicklow (5).
While 44 commencement notices were lodged for Galway, none of these were in Galway city. Similarly, of the 57 notices filed for Cork, just one was for Cork City.
Some 63 commencement notices were lodged for Dublin, 56 of which were located in Dublin city. Just one was located in South Dublin, while three were located in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal.
