Real Estate: Number of residential building permits down 0.5 pct over Jan – May

 The number of residential building permits issued in Romania in the first five months of the year was 0.5 percent down from the year-ago period, shows data released on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).As many as 14,050 residential building permits were released between January 1 - May 31, 2024, with lower numbers of such authorizations recorded in the following development regions: Center (-237 permits), North-West (-122) and South-East (-59).Conversely, the following development regions saw an increase in the number of permits in the reporting period as follows: West (+108), Bucharest-Ilfov (+76), South-Muntenia (+64), South-West Oltenia (+5).As many as 3,050 residential building permits were released in May 2024, by 528 (14.8 percent) fewer compared to April 2024, for a total usable floor area of 698,534 sqm (-19.2 pct). Of the total residential building permits, 68 percent were for the rural area.The distribution by development regions of the decline in the number of permits released this May is as follows: South-Muntenia (-116), North-East (-106), West and Bucharest-Ilfov (-83 each), North-West and Center (-80, each), and South-East (-4). Conversely, the Southwest Oltenia development region saw an increase by 24 permits.As many as 516 building permits were issued this May for non-residential buildings (-13.9 percent as against April 2024) for a total usable floor area of 260,154 sqm (-57.2 percent). Compared to the previous month, the usable floor area covered by the non-residential building permits issued in May was by 347,246 sqm smaller, with the decline distributed by development regions as follows: Bucharest-Ilfov (-279,645 sqm), North-East (-52,856 sqm), North-West (-39,980 sqm), South-West Oltenia (-15,868 sqm), and South-East (-3,650 sqm). Increases were registered in the West (+27,973 sqm), Center (+13,685 sqm) and South-Muntenia (+3,095 sqm) development regions.A year-on-year comparison reveals an overall decrease in both the number of residential building permits issued this May (-11.6 percent), and in the total usable floor area (-7.3 percent), with the following distribution by development regions: North-West (-106 permits), North-East (-104), West (-44), South-East (-39), Center (-37), Bucharest-Ilfov (-33), South-West Oltenia (-24), and South-Muntenia (-12).Compared to May 2023, in May 2024 there was a decrease in both the number of issued non-residential building permits (-20.1 percent), and the total usable floor area (-24.3 percent).The breakdown of the year-over-year decline in the usable floor area covered by non-residential building permits (-83,444 sqm) is as follows: South-Muntenia (-53,998 sqm), West (-38,919 sqm), Bucharest-Ilfov (-8,466 sqm), North-East (-5,359 sqm) and South-West Oltenia (-1,944 sqm). The development regions to record a rise in the non-residential usable floor area were Center (+17,829 sqm), South-East (+5,983 sqm), and North-West (+1,430 sqm).