INS: Building permits for residential buildings, up 1pct in January

The number of building permits issued for residential buildings in January 2019 increased by 1pct compared with the same period of the previous year, according to data with the National Institute of Statistics (INS) released on Thursday. 

Thus, in the first month of the year, 2,028 permits for residential buildings were issued, of which 669 for the urban area (5 more than in January 2018), while for the rural area were issued 1,359 permits (14 more Y-o-Y). The number of permits issued in January 2019 for the rural area represents 67pct of the total number of permits issued. 

By regional distribution, the number of building permits issued for residential buildings, Y-o-Y, increased in the following development regions: North-West (+50 permits, a total of 313 permits in January 2019), Centre (+34, total of 199 permits), South-East (+28, total of 269 permits) and South-Muntenia (+17, total of 315 permits). Decrease were registered in the following development regions: West (-44, total 178), North-East (-43, total 375), Bucharest-Ilfov (-13, total 223) and South-West Oltenia (-1-, total 156 permits). 

In January 2019, as many as 8,879 dwellings were registered in authorized residential buildings, amounting to 854,377 square meters, while in January 2018 there were 5,161 dwellings, totaling 532,993 square meters. 

As regards non-residential building permits, they increased in January 2019 as compared to January 2018 with a unit (12 permits) for administrative buildings and 15 units (378 permits) for other buildings. 

The building permit is the authority act of the local administration, that ensures the application of the measures provided by the law regarding the location, design, construction and functioning of the constructions.