Building Permits, Construction Starts Increase in Bulgaria in Q3

Activity in Bulgaria’s construction sector is picking up, official figures showed on Monday.

Municipal authorities have issued 1,154 permits for the construction of residential buildings comprising a total of 4 670 dwellings in the third quarter, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) announced.

Compared with the prior quarter, the number of issued construction permits was 1.2% higher, while the number of dwellings in the future buildings has increased by 35.2%.

The gross built-up area of residential buildings, for which construction permits were issued in the third quarter, has increased by 27.5% compared with the second quarter, reaching 654,082 square meters.

Compared with the third quarter of 2014, the number of issued construction permits for new residential buildings has increased by 11.1% in the period July-September of 2015, the number of dwellings in them by 35.8% and the gross built-up area - by 47.4%.

Permits for the construction of 40 office buildings were also issued in the third quarter of 2015, down 9.1% compared with the prior quarter. The gross built-up area of those future buildings, however, has increased sharply, by 218%    

The third quarter of 2015 also saw the launch of the construction of 741 residential buildings (up 23.5%, year-on-year) with a total of 3,006 dwellings (up 75.3%) and 446,375 sq.m. of gross built-up area, an increase of 103% compared with the same period of 2014.

The NSI also reported a rise in the number of construction starts of office buildings as well as an increase of the total built-up area.

 The construction of 25 office buildings with a total of 51,410 sq.m. of gross built-up area was launched in the third quarter, an year-on-year increase of 13.6% and 139.4%, respectively.