The growth in construction volumes slowed down in the 1st quarter
In 2012, the construction volumes grew by 19% on average compared to a year earlier, in the 1st quarter this year the growth slowed down.
In the 1st quarter of 2013, the production value of construction enterprises amounted to 380 million euros, of which the production value of building construction was 240 million euros and the production of civil engineering totalled 140 million euros. Compared to the same quarter of 2012, the volume of building construction in real terms decreased 3%, but the volume of civil engineering increased by a tenth.
During the recent years the construction market has been supported mainly by the increase in the civil engineering and repair and reconstruction work in building construction, but by now also the new building construction has started slowly to upturn, mainly on the domestic construction market.
The construction volume of Estonian construction enterprises in foreign countries decreased by nearly a fifth compared to the 1st quarter of 2012. Both, the volumes in building construction as well as in civil engineering decreased. The share of the construction volumes in foreign countries accounted for 12% of the total volume of construction volume in the 1st quarter.
According to the data of the Register of Construction Works, in the 1st quarter of 2013, the number of dwelling completions was 419, i.e. about a third less than in the same period of 2012. More than half of completed dwellings were situated in one-family, two-family or terraced houses. The majority of completed dwellings were situated in Tallinn. There is still a demand for new dwellings with good location and quality on the construction market. In the 1st quarter of 2013, building permits were granted for the construction of 608 dwellings. Although the number on completed dwellings stayed by a tenth less compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the planned dwellings are on average 16 square metres bigger than at the same time a year ago. The most popular type of building is blocks of flats.
In the 1st quarter of 2013, the number of completed non-residential buildings was 154 with the useful floor area of 149,300 square metres – this was primarily made up of new office, agricultural and industrial premises. Compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the useful floor area as well as the cubic capacity of completed non-residential buildings increased.
Construction volume index and its trend, 1st quarter 2003 – 1st quarter 2013 (average of quarters of 2010 = 100)
