THE NUMBER of building permits issued in January 2014 stood at 404 compared with the 396 issued in January last year; an increase of 2 per cent, according to figures released yesterday by the Cyprus Statistical Service.
Compared with January 2014, the total area of these permits increased by 23% to 83,398 square metres from 65,564, while their value fell 4% to €75.5 million from €78.6 million.
During January, building permits were issued for:
- Residential buildings – 270 permits
- Non-residential buildings – 83 permits
- Civil engineering projects – 13 permits
- Division of plots of land – 32 permits
- Road construction – 6 permits
New home construction
The 270 residential building permits approved in January provided for the construction of 204 new homes comprising 143 single houses and 61 multiple housing units (such as apartments, semis, townhouses and other residential complexes).
This is an increase of 17% compared with January 2014 when building permits were issued for the construction of 175 new homes.
According to the Cyprus Statistical Service, building permits constitute a leading indicator of future activity in the construction sector.
As the vast majority of these permits are for residential dwellings I would assume a great number are for locals building their family home generally on land they already own. With such a vast stock of empty or part finished / started construction, some of which has stood empty for years, I would have thought there is more than enough capacity for holiday home sales (to those totally ignorant of the pitfalls) so not a lot of need to build more (unless there is a money making scam to be had in doing so), the new permits must therefore be for locals or ex pats building their own perhaps.
At least it keeps the builders merchants and their suppliers ticking over.