THE NUMBER of building permits authorised in July 2016 stood at 442 compared with the 479 authorised in July 2015; a fall of 7.7 per cent according to official figures released by the Cyprus Statistical Service.
Compared with July 2015, the total area of these permits rose 1.4% to 90.8 thousand square metres from 89.6 thousand square metres. However, their value fell 34.4% to €84.6 million from €129.0 million.
During July, building permits were issued for:
- Residential buildings – 305 permits
- Non-residential buildings – 77 permits
- Civil engineering projects – 18 permits
- Division of plots of land – 37 permits
- Road construction – 5 permits
Building permits for new homes
The 305 residential building permits approved in July provided for the construction of 382 new homes comprising 231 single houses and 74 multiple housing units (such as apartments, semis, townhouses and other residential complexes).
This is an increase of 13.4% compared with July 2015 when building permits were issued for the construction of 337 new homes.
Building Permits Issued for the Construction of
New Homes (Number of Dwellings)
Month | 2015 (Dwellings) |
2016 (Dwellings) |
Increase/Decrease | %age Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
January | 204 | 243 | 39 | 19.1% |
February | 384 | 312 | -72 | 3.0% |
March | 297 | 306 | 9 | 3.0% |
April | 147 | 201 | 54 | 36.7% |
May | 276 | 278 | 2 | 0.7% |
June | 239 | 287 | 48 | 20.1% |
July | 337 | 382 | 45 | 13.4% |
Total | 1,884 | 2,009 | 125 | 6.6% |
Year to date
During the first seven months of 2016 the number of building permits authorised for both residential and non-residential projects increased by 2.7% to 3,053 compared with the 2,974 authorised in the same period last year.
However, the total value of these permits fell 10.4% to €574.8 million and their total area fell by 0.3% to 546.2 thousand square metres, while the number of housing units increased by 6.6%.
According to the Cyprus Statistical Service, building permits constitute a leading indicator of future activity in the construction sector.