THE RECESSION in the island’s construction sector continued in 2012 according to the report “Construction and Housing Statistics, 2012” issued by the Cyprus Statistical Service today.
The year saw the sector contract by a provisional 19.5% compared to 9.8% in the previous year with fewer homes and non-residential buildings being constructed. The homes that were built reduced in size, while unemployment in the sector continued to increase.
The main developments in 2012 were:
a) The construction sector continued for the fourth consecutive year to be in recession. The rate of growth of the sector in 2012 (in terms of value added at constant prices) is provisionally estimated to have recorded a decrease of 19.5% compared to a decline of 9.8% in 2011.
b) The gross output of the sector at current market prices was reduced in 2012 by 20.7% to €2,250.8 million compared to €2,836.7 million in 2011. The subsector of buildings construction and civil engineering recorded a decrease of 20.9%, while the subsector of land and buildings development registered a decline of 19.3%.
c) New residential buildings accounted for 31.4% of the total gross output of the subsector of buildings construction and civil engineering, new non-residential buildings (offices, shops, hotels, factories, etc.) for 21.6% and new civil engineering projects (roads and bridges, water supply and sewerage networks, telecommunications and electricity lines etc.) for 26.4%, while repairs, maintenance and others accounted for the remaining 20.6%.
d) Employment in the sector was reduced from 33,039 persons in 2011 to 28,562 persons in 2012 and accounted for 7.8% of the gainfully employed population.
e) The number of persons registered as unemployed increased from 4,424 persons in 2011 to 6,177 persons in 2012.
f) Labour cost in construction increased by 1.2% compared to an increase of 2.5% in 2011. The price index of construction materials recorded a rise of 0.2% compared to 4.1% in 2011.
g) The number of new dwellings completed decreased by 27.8% to 6,565 dwelling units compared to 9,091 in the previous year. By administrative district, the number of new dwellings is distributed as follows: Lefkosia (Nicosia) 2,534, Ammochostos (Famagusta) 325, Larnaka 1,273, Lemesos (Limassol) 1,548 and Paphos 885.
h) The average area per dwelling completed in 2012 was 234 square metres for houses and 128 square metres for apartments, compared to 239 and 131 respectively in 2011.
i) The cost of construction per square metre (excluding the value of land) rose from €943.1 in 2011 to €988.1 in 2012 for houses and from €830.0 to €831.9 for apartments.
j) The dwelling stock at the end of the year amounted to 430 thousand dwelling units, of which 62.5% were in the urban areas.
Further reading
Construction and Housing Statistics, 2012 (244 pages – English and Greek)
The ONLY way forward is a MASSIVE write down of toxic loans (which I now gather the BoC told the clearing banks quite forcibly not to lend – but they ignored that advice). They tried to
It’s likely watching the aftermath of a gigantic teenage rave that someone, somewhere sold expensive tickets to (and encouraged every drug dealer in town to visit) and looking on afterwards in disbelief at the massive damage / large cleanup operation to fund and execute.
You can argue all you like about who is to blame – but sooner or later – you need to accept it should NEVER have gone ahead – and that the premises need cleaning up – preferably with the help of those who have offered it – stop whining about it and get your sleeves rolled up and sort it.
And by the way – never organise another (no matter how lucrative it might appear)
It’s becoming more obvious why the developers don’t repay their loans and IPT. The few properties they sell are often at 30-40% discount, which means they make little or no profit. A contact in one of the big developers told me that there are buyers around, but they need mortgages and banks are not lending if the collateral is a house.
After four years of recession to 2012, we know already that another one has passed and the current year is no better. Where is it all going to end?
@Deanna – They usually publish the statistics around this time of the year – about 18 months after the year they’re reporting.
And yes, the sector contracted in 2013 and will probably contract this year as well.
They only have records to 2012?
Add another two years to that then ie six years in recession.