More building permits approved in 3 months

MANILA, Philippines — Construction activity based on approved building permits went up slightly or by 1.8 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Preliminary construction statistics released by the PSA showed approved building permits reached 37,270 from  January to March, up from 36,621 permits in the same period last year.

The approved building permits in the first quarter, however, are lower compared to the 39,513 approved in the previous or the fourth quarter of 2021.

Approved building permits in the first quarter  cover 7.72 million square meters of floor area with a total value of P86.78 billion.

By type of construction, residential buildings accounted for the biggest share or 71.2 percent of the total approved permits for the first quarter.

Residential building permits rose four percent to 26,546 in the first quarter from 25,535 in the same period last year.

“A majority (85.9 percent) of the total residential constructions were single-type houses,” PSA said.

Meanwhile, permits for non-residential projects rose six percent to 6,145 in the first quarter from the 5,798 in the same period a year ago.

The bulk or 70.4 percent of the non-residential permits were for commercial buildings.

As for additions to increase the height or area of an existing building or structure, approved permits grew 28 percent year-on-year to 1,131 in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, permits for alteration and repair declined by 21.7 percent to 3,448 in the first quarter.

PSA said Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) accounted for the highest number of building permits with 9,725 or 26 percent share of the total in the first quarter.