Licenses for new homes grow by nearly 8%

In the first three months of the year, 6246 buildings were licensed, the vast majority for the residential segment. Despite the drop in building licensing, the construction of more dwellings is expected.

20 Jun 2023 min de leitura

The beginning of the year presented encouraging indicators regarding the country's housing crisis. In the first quarter, 8,801 dwellings in new constructions were licensed, which represents in homologous terms an increase of 7.6% and 35.8% compared to the same period of 2019 (pre-pandemic). However, only 3,881 new residences were licensed for family homes, which represents a year-on-year decrease of 12.2%. These indicators allow us to conclude that future housing projects will have a larger dimension.

The drop in licenses for new residential buildings is also evident in the total number of permits, which reached 6,246 in the first three months of 2023, 10.9% less than in the same period of the previous year. New construction, which recorded a year-on-year drop of 11.1%, and rehabilitation, with a 10.2% drop in licensed buildings, contributed to this drop, published the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Of the total new licenses, 81.7% are for housing and 76.1% for new construction.

The analysis by region shows that only the Algarve presents a homologous increase in new permits for new residential buildings, of 14.9%. The North registered a decrease of 13.4%, the Center of 9.9%, the Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (AML) of 16.9%, the Alentejo of 7.8%, Madeira of 1.1% and the Azores of 31.1%. Regarding the number of licensed dwellings, the scenario is different. According to INE data, the North registers an increase in the number of licensed houses by 8%, the Center by 4.6% and the AML by 5%. In the Algarve, the number of licensed dwellings increased by 77% and in Madeira by 35%. In Alentejo there is a decrease of 17.9% and in the Azores of 43%.

According to INE, the strong growth in the Algarve is justified by the licensing of new dwellings in Loulé, Lagos, Albufeira, Portimão and Silves. In Madeira, the increase is due to the dynamism of projects in the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos and Funchal. The sharp drop recorded in the Azores can be attributed to the base effect, as the region recorded a 34.8% increase in the number of licensed apartments in the first quarter of 2022, justifies the institute.

In the first three months of this year, the total licensed area in the country increased by 2.7% compared to the same period of the previous year. However, according to INE, the monthly analysis for October 2022 shows a continued downward trend in building licensing. February was the month with the biggest decrease, with a decrease of 16.9% compared to the same month last year.

Statistics relating to buildings completed in the first quarter of this year also recorded a drop in this indicator. Compared to the first quarter of 2022, there was a decrease of 2.9%, but compared to the first three months of 2019, it increased by 9.4% to a total of 3674 thousand buildings. New construction represents 82.9% of the number of completed constructions, 77.1% of which are intended for family housing. The regions of Madeira, Azores, Alentejo and Center showed an increase in the number of completed buildings, while in the other regions the variations were negative.

Source Diário de Noticias
Photograph by IHM-Investimentos Habitacionais da Madeira, EPERAM