Building Permits Issued in Bulgaria Rise 3.4% Y/Y in Q1

Bulgarian municipal authorities have issued building permits for the construction of 993 residential buildings comprising 3,434 dwellings with total gross building area of 508,473 square meters (sq. m.) in the first quarter of 2016.

As compared to the first quarter of 2015, the number of issued building permits for new residential buildings increased by 3.4%, but the number of dwellings in them fell byby 20.1% and the gross building area decreased by 9.0%, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a quarterly report released on Wednesday.

The highest number of building permits for new construction was issued in the following districts: Plovdiv - 143, Sofia City -139, Burgas - 124 and Varna - 100.

In the first quarter of 2016, permits for the construction of 43 office buildings with gross building area of 87,744 sq. m.were also issued.

The figures marked a 79.2% increase in the number of issued building permits over the first quarter of last year and a surge of 135.0% in their gross building area.

Housing starts in Bulgaria increased by 10.7% year-on-year to 601 in the first quarter of 2016, the NSI said. The number of dwellings in those buildings, however, dropped by 19.0% to 2,605. The gross building area also decreased, falling by 16.9% to 353,542 sq. m.

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