Home > Statistics > Building and dwelling production > 2016 > December > Cubic volume covered by granted building permits grew in the last quarter of 2016

Published: 24 February 2017

Cubic volume covered by granted building permits grew in the last quarter of 2016

According to Statistics Finland, building permits were granted for a total of 9.8 million cubic metres in October to December 2016. The granted cubic volume was 32.5 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year previously. The growth is in particular influenced by a large building project during the period.

Granted building permits and building starts, mil. m3, moving annual total

Residential building growing towards end of year

The cubic volume of building permits granted for residential buildings in October to December was 2.7 million, which is 15.0 per cent higher than one year earlier. The only residential building type for which the volume covered by granted permits grew from the year before was blocks of flats, up by 31.5 per cent.

Building permits were granted for a total of 8,859 dwellings in October to December. The number grew by 28.4 per cent from the previous year.

Volume of building production is growing steadily

In October to December, the constant-price value or the volume of ongoing building production increased by 10.7 per cent year-on-year. The volume of construction of residential buildings increased in the period by 9.7 per cent and that of other than residential building construction by 11.6 per cent. Measured by volume, at the same time, 17.0 per cent more building projects and 3.2 per cent more residential building projects were started than one year earlier.

Volume index of newbuilding 2010=100, trend

Residential building projects still centre on Uusimaa

During 2016, eight per cent more cubic volume in building permits were granted than one year earlier. The cubic volume of permits granted for both public service buildings and industrial and warehouse buildings was higher than in 2015. The cubic volume covered by permits granted for commercial and office buildings was lower than in the year before.

In recent years, clear regional segregation has been detectable in building permits as newbuilding projects seem to focus particularly on Uusimaa.

Granted building permits by region

The cubic volume covered by building permits granted for residential buildings grew by 11.1 per cent from the year before and focused clearly on building of blocks of flats. The number of permits granted for residential buildings went up by 20.9 per cent from one year ago. The share of blocks of flats construction in residential building has grown over the past few years. Simultaneously, the number of permits granted for residential buildings has grown and the average size of dwellings has decreased.

Building project starts increased clearly over the year. Altogether 7.9 per cent more building projects were started than one year previously. Residential building starts have been growing briskly for the past two years. When examining building projects started in 2016 by building type, only building starts for detached houses were lower than in the year before.

The constant-price value of the volume of ongoing building production increased during 2016. The volume increased by 13.2 per cent from the previous year. The volume of residential building developed more favourably than other categories during the year, up by 15.8 per cent. The volume of other than residential building construction went up by 11.1 per cent over the same period.

Data of the statistics on building and dwelling production

The data of the statistics on building and dwelling production are based on the building permit data of the Population Register Centre. The register data are supplemented as municipal building supervisors provide data to the Population Information System and the now published data can become revised. The accumulation data from one year ago do not fully correspond with the accumulation of the current data and this causes bias in the change percentage calculation. For the latest months, the data still have undercoverage and will be supplemented over coming months.

Source: Building and dwelling production, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Jose Lahtinen 029 551 3776, Merja Järvinen 029 551 2458, Heli Suonio 029 551 2481, rakennus.suhdanne@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Ylä-Jarkko

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Building production, three month total and year-on-year change (24.2.2017)

Revisions in these statistics

• Revisions in these statistics (24.2.2017)

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Updated 24.2.2017