Building construction picks up in second quarter

The number of permits issued for building construction increased by 114 percent in the second quarter of 2021 to 38,389 permits from only 17,932 permits issued in the same period last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

It was also higher by 4.7 percent than the 36,621 permits issued in the first quarter of 2021.

The data were based on the approved building permits on new constructions and additions, alterations and repairs of existing residential and non-residential buildings, and other structures which are proposed to be constructed in the different cities/municipalities of the country.

Residential constructions in the second quarter accounted for 27,375 or 71.3 percent of the total number of constructions. This also climbed by 102.8 percent, which was contradictory to the annual decline of -61.0 percent in the same quarter of 2020. Majority (82.4%) of the total residential constructions were single-type houses. 

Non-residential constructions, accounted for 14.5 percent of the total constructions in the second quarter and showed an increase of 119.2 percent from the previous year. About 69.2 percent of the non-residential constructions were commercial buildings. 

Addition, which refers to any new construction that increases the height or area of an existing building/structure, and alteration and repair of existing structures had a share of 3.1 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively. Compared with their respective annual rates in the same quarter of the previous year, both addition to existing structures, and alteration and repair posted an expansion of 198.0 percent and 184.7 percent, respectively. 

In the second quarter of 2021, the total value of constructions reached P84.36 billion, up by 194.3 percent from a year ago. 

Residential building constructions, valued at P43.79 billion, accounted for 51.9 percent of the total value of constructions in the second quarter and expanded by 209.5 percent from P14.15 billion a year earlier.

The value of non-residential constructions amounted to P32.83 billion, or 38.9 percent of the total. This translated into a 146.5-percent increment from P13.32 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. 

CALABARZON had the highest cost of building construction at P20.09 billion, followed by the National Capital Region with P16.56 billion and Ilocos Region with P9.97 billion.

The total floor area of construction in the second quarter reached 7.14 million square meters, translating into an annual increase of 148.2 percent.  Residential constructions recorded 4.21 million square meters or 58.9 percent of the total floor area and increased at an annual rate of 185.7 percent.

Non-residential construction accounted for 2.86 million square meters or 40.1 percent of the total and exhibited a faster annual increase of 107.1 percent from the previous year’s same quarter drop of -73.3 percent. 

The average cost of construction in the second quarter was P10,814 per square meter. This indicates a faster increase of 12.7 percent compared with the previous quarter’s increase of 10.7 percent. 

Non-residential had the highest average cost of P11,423 per square meter in the second quarter while residential cost was P10,408 per square meter.

Among residential constructions, residential condominiums posted the highest average cost of P13,743 per square meter in the second quarter.