MANILA, Philippines – More construction activity was seen in the first quarter compared to a year ago as the number of approved building permits climbed by more than a fifth year-on-year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
Preliminary results of the PSA’s construction statistics for the January to March period showed the total number of new construction projects from approved building permits reached 29,468, up 20.8 percent from the 24,400 in the same period in 2013.
The new construction projects for the period were valued at P61.1 billion, a 4.3 percent increase from the P58.7 billion in the comparable period last year.
Residential type-building projects accounted for the bulk of approved building permits for the three-month period, which grew 17.1 percent to 20,498 from 17,502 during the same period of 2013.
The value of these residential projects rose two percent to P29.1 billion in the first quarter from the previous year’s P28.5 billion.
Approved building permits for non-residential constructions likewise posted a 15.2 percent uptick to to 3,496 as of end-March from 3,034 a year ago.
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In terms of value, non-residential constructions, which amounted to P27 billion for the January to March period, went up y 6.9 percent from P25.3 billion last year.
Permits for additions, alterations and repairs of existing structures which reached 5,474 in the first quarter, are 41.7 percent higher than the 3,864 in the same three-month period in 2013.
The combined value of additions, alterations and repairs of existing structures estimated at P5 billion in the first quarter, posted a 3.6 percent increase from P4.8 billion in the previous year.
“Among the country’s 17 regions, the most number of construction projects were located in CALABARZON (Region IVA) with 6,301 accounting for 21.4 percent of the total,” the PSA said.
By province, Cavite reported the highest number of construction projects at 2,123 accounting for 7.2 percent of the total.
In terms of value, the National Capital Region got the top spot with projects amounting to P23.3 billion or 38.2 percent of the total. 28
