Sofia reinforces its position as a center of residential construction and Plovdiv – as the industrial one
The new construction in the big cities of the country will continue to accelerate, but at more sustainable pace, according to the data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) for the issued building permits and the new construction started in the first quarter of the year.
The capital Sofia and the regions of Plovdiv and Varna are the most active centers for housing construction. At the same time, in Varna and Burgas there is a strong growth of the construction of the so-called “other buildings” in which the industrial properties fall.
On the whole, the construction of offices remains concentrated in the capital, according to the NSI data.
Regarding the already started construction of new buildings, Plovdiv for the time retains the crown of the busiest construction site in the country, mainly due to the construction in the industrial sphere. Sofia holds the second place, but the capital is the leader in terms of the residential construction.
Residential construction
Generally, in Bulgaria the permits for construction of new residential buildings and dwellings declined in the first quarter of the year compared to the last year. The tendency is regular – the last quarter is typically most active in both transactions and in the preparation of startup documents.
On an annual basis however, the issued permits for construction of new residential buildings increased by 10.1%, the dwellings of them – by 36.6%, and their built-up area is increased by 17% more.
In Sofia, the permits for construction of new residential buildings increase by 13% on an annual basis and dwellings by almost 20%. In Plovdiv building permits remain relatively stable compared to the same period of the last year, but dwellings increase by 65%, i.e. smaller apartments are being built. The trend in Varna is similar, where the growth of issued building permits for new residential buildings is considerably lower than the growth of dwellings – 12% and 73.4%, respectively.
Only in Burgas region there is a decrease in the issued building permits and in the newly built construction due to the delay of the holiday segment in the region.
Construction of offices and industrial buildings
Plovdiv region remains the most active building center for industrial buildings, although the pace is slightly slowing in the first quarter, at least in terms of issued building permits. However, the construction started in the segment continues to show strong growth.
As a whole, the construction of offices is concentrated in the capital. For the first quarter there is a decrease of 18% of the issued building permits, but on an annual basis the growth is double.
However, a double decline in the number of buildings for which a building permit was issued has been reported in Varna.
It is noteworthy that there is a boom in the construction of industrial buildings in the districts of Varna and Burgas, where the increase of the issued permits is reported by 1.5 times and 55% respectively.
