Building permits: February 2020

Housing
Building permits: February 2020

Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, publishes today the figures on building permits until February 2020.  As a result of the Covid-19 crisis, there is a lower response rate for this survey[1]. The figures below are therefore provisional and will be updated at a later date.

This month, building permits were issued for 2,406 new residential buildings. Compared to January 2020, this is a decrease of 4.9 %. 

In the Flemish Region, 1,940 permits were issued for new residential buildings, i.e. an increase of 1 %. 

The number of permits issued for new residential buildings has decreased by 23.8 % to 459 buildings in the Walloon Region.

In the Brussels-Capital Region, permits were issued for 7 new residential buildings:

Table: Monthly figures - number of permits for new residential buildings + evolution compared to the previous period

  Month Belgium Flemish Region Walloon Region Brussels-Capital Region
2019 1 2,120   1,552   558   10  
2019 2 2,008 (-5.3%) 1,550 (-0.1%) 449 (-19.5%) 9 (-10.0%)
2019 3 2,484 (+23.7%) 1,903 (+22.8%) 566 (+26.1%) 15 (+66.7%)
2019 4 2,414 (-2.8%) 1,874 (-1.5%) 525 (-7.2%) 15 0.0%
2019 5 2,090 (-13.4%) 1,535 (-18.1%) 550 (+4.8%) 5 (-66.7%)
2019 6 2,271 (+8.7%) 1,687 (+9.9%) 567 (+3.1%) 17 (+240.0%)
2019 7 2,549 (+12.2%) 1,874 (+11.1%) 665 (+17.3%) 10 (-41.2%)
2019 8 2,198 (-13.8%) 1,615 (-13.8%) 568 (-14.6%) 15 (+50.0%)
2019 9 2,460 (+11.9%) 1,861 (+15.2%) 594 (+4.6%) 6 (-60.0%)
2019 10 2,392 (-2.8%) 1,817 (-2.4%) 557 (-6.2%) 17 (+183.3%)
2019 11 2,169 (-9.3%) 1,576 (-13.3%) 576 (+3.4%) 16 (-5.9%)
2019 12 2,321 (+7.0%) 1,813 (+15.0%) 500 (-13.2%) 8 (-50.0%)
2020 1 2,530 (+9.0%) 1,920 (+5.9%) 602 (+20.4%) 8 0.0%
2020 2 2,406 (-4.9%) 1,940 (+1.0%) 459 (-23.8%) 7 (-12.5%)
Table: Monthly figures - number of permits for new residential buildings + evolution compared to the previous period

Since 2007, the number of permits for the renovation of residential buildings was generally higher than the number of permits for the construction of new residential buildings.  This changes briefly from the second quarter of 2018 onwards.  From January 2019 onwards, the number of permits for the renovation of residential buildings is again higher than the number of permits for the construction of new residential buildings, but the difference remains small.

From 2003 onwards, more permits are issued for new apartments than for single family dwellings.  During the years 2010-2011, both were at approximately the same level, but in recent years the difference has been increasing in favour of the apartments.

   New construction vs renovation                                Single family dwellings vs apartments

BOUWBOUW 2


[1]For Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region, the data are collected via a survey. For Flanders, an administrative database is used.