Approved building permits down in Feb

THE number of construction projects based on approved building permits declined in February while its value accelerated, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Approved construction projects in February totaled 13,100 or 5.5 percent lower from Q3,859 projects in the same month last year. In a monthly comparison, it was higher by 5.6 percent from Q2,400 recorded in January 2024.

The amount of approved projects totaled P43.26 billion, higher from last year’s P30.8 billion and from the previous month’s P32.58 billion.

Among the total projects, residential buildings reported the majority of approved constructions at 8,345 or 63.7 percent of the total projects.

“It recorded an annual decrease of 9.4 percent from the same month of the previous year’s level of 9,209 construction projects,” the PSA said.

Majority of the total residential construction work were singletype houses with 7,Q04 valued at PQ9.34 billion.

Nonresidential constructions, meanwhile, totaled 3,Q77 during the month and recorded the highest value at PQ9.47 billion.

The number of nonresidential constructions during the month showed an increase of Q.4 percent in comparison to last year’s 3,Q34.

In terms of structure types, the PSA said that residential buildings had the highest average cost of PQ3,468.60 per square meter (sqm) during the month.

This was followed by addition to existing constructions with PQ0,507.Q5 per sqm, and nonresidential constructions with P9,Q50.Q6 per sqm.

In terms of the total floor area, the agency said that it increased by 34.5 percent to 3.6Q million sqm in February from 2.67 million sqm in the same period last year.

Nonresidential constructions posted 2.09 million sqm or 57.8 percent of the total floor area of constructions, while residential constructions recorded Q.44 million sqm or 39.7 percent of the total floor area of constructions in February 2024.

Among the regions, the PSA said that Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) recorded the most construction projects during the month with 3,Q3Q amounting to P8.9 billion.

In terms of value, the National Capital Region ranked first with P9.55 billion for its 770 construction projects.