Ministry Of Development: Housing Permits Reach 5-Year High

30 December 2015 – Expansión

The number of permits requested to construct new homes shot up by 29.2% during the first ten months of the year compared with the same period last year, to amount to 39,871 certificates, according to data from the Ministry of Development.

If the same rate of permit requests has been maintained during the last two months of the year, 2015 will come to an end as the second year of consecutive increases and with the highest volume in five years, since 2011, when the number of certificates reached almost 48,000.

Demand for permits to construct new homes thus maintained the growth trend that it had been recording for months and which allowed it to close 2014 with the first increase (in the number of permits) since 2006. Nevertheless, it still falls a long way short of the record figures reached before the crisis.

For the time being, during the first ten months of the year, 70% of the permits requested related to the construction of new blocks of flats, with 27,827 units and a cumulative YoY increase of 32.8%.

The other authorisations requested related to single family residences, with 12,028 requests, i.e. 21.6% more than during the same period a year earlier.

The number of permits requested to renovate and restore homes also increased between January and October, by 12.9%, to amount to 21,474 requests.

By contrast, the number of requests to expand homes decreased during this period, by 12.2%, from 1,318 during the first ten months of 2014, to reach 1,156 during the same period this year.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake