Cyprus building permits reach 14% of GDP

Residential dominates

 

The value of building permits authorised in Cyprus rose by 8.3% year on year in January to October, to reach CYP 1.18 bln, or 14% of likely GDP in 2006, according to our calculations.

In the same period the number of building permits rose by 8.3% and the area of permits rose by 3.8%.

By far the biggest concentration of value is in residential buildings permits, worth CYP 1.0 bln. Of this, more than half (CYP 526 mln) is accounted for by single houses. These rose in value by 5.4% compared with Jan-Oct 2005.

However, if it is value growth that you are after, then the hottest place to be is in the niche markets. The 8 “residencies for communities” authorised in Jan-Oct 2006 were valued at only CYP 1.9 mln, but climbed 355.5% in value compared with those authorised Jan-Oct 2005.

Similarly, the 31 “cottage apartment complexes”, valued at just CYP 28.9 mln, climbed 273.8% in value compared with those authorised in 2005.

Among the large categories, the biggest growth by value has been in residential apartment blocks, up by 10.8% to CYP 300.4 mln, and residential/commercial mix apartment blocks, up by 17.9% to CYP 55 mln.

Authorisations of office buildings have fallen steeply, by 41.1% in value and 25.8% in number.

After a strong start civil engineering has also fallen in value, although the number of projects authorised is still 45.6% higher than last year. Civil engineering projects probably relate mainly to the long overdue upgrades of Larnaca and Paphos airports. F.M.