Construction permits in the first three quarters of 2008 and 2009

2010-01-12

Following strong declines of H1 2009, the downtrend in the number of issued construction permits seemed to come to a halt in Q3 2009. Between July and September 2009, relative to Q3 2008, the number of issued permits declined in 2.1% for residential buildings and by 1.1% for non-residential buildings.

Yet, aggregate data for the first three quarters of 2009 is less upbeat – declines in construction permits issued for residential and non-residential buildings stood at 12.3% an 7% year on year, respectively. And even worse, when we look at the area of buildings issued construction permits rather than their number, the drops were even deeper – of 18.1% and 23.3%.
In the far majority of cases, the year-on-year changes look better when expressed in the number of buildings issued permits rather than in the area of planned premises, which means most investors between the first and third quarters of 2009 applied for permits to build slightly smaller premises than a year earlier. In terms of building area, the only growth noted in the first three quarters of 2009 was in commercial premises (8.7%). From among the main building types, the deepest decreases in issued construction permits were noted in the case of industrial and warehouse buildings, multi-family residential buildings, and office buildings.

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