Construction is seeing a resurgence in Spain
The number of building licences approved in February increased by a whopping 34.8% year-on-year, reaching 5,663 licences, according to data released by the Ministry of Public Works.
The data further validates the opinion that 2016 has started well for the real-estate and construction industries.
The data also offers good prospects for the rest of the year for new home construction with February representing the best month for building licence approval since October 2011 when the total issued reached 5,882.
Following a few years of little-to-no new construction in Spain following the crisis the figures for the first months of 2016 are very encouraging. The numbers suggest that this year could see 60,000 licences issued, beating 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.
Property Type
Building licences for housing blocks accounted for the majority issued in February with 4,196 issued, representing an increase of 33% when compared to the same period last year.
For single-family homes an increase of 39.7% was recorded with 1,467 licences issued.
To put the figures in perspective, the pre-crisis peak for building licences issued in a single month was in September 2006 when 126,753 licences were issued. Compare this to the worst month in recent years, August 2013, when only 1,585 were issued.
