Building permits value records significant drop

Building permits value and area in Cyprus recorded a significant drop in the first seven months of 2020 on an annual basis, despite a great increase in July this year.

Data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (CyStat) show that in the first seven months of this year the value of building permits in Famagusta district was up over 100%. However, the value of building permits recorded a significant drop of 53.9% and their area a drop of 31.3%.

In particular, according to CyStat, in July 2020 the number of building permits issued by municipal authorities and district administrations was 740, presenting a marginal drop compared to July last year.

On the contrary, the total value of these permits was up by 49% in July this year, to €441.8 million compared to €295,385 in July 2019.

Total area of the building permits was up by 43.6% in July 2020 reaching 340.2 thousand m2 compared to 236,796 in July 2019.

A total of 1,141 housing units are expected to be built on the basis of these permits while in July 2019 at total of 1,028 housing units were expected to be built.

According to the data during the period January – July 2020, a total of 3,893 building permits were issued compared to 4,136 during the same period of 2019.

The total value of these permits was down by 22.3% and the total area by 7.5%. The number of dwelling units was up by 1.6%.

According to CyStat, building permits constitute an important indication for future activity in the construction sector.