More building permits granted in Q1

Building permits were granted for a total of 8.2 million cubic metres in January to March 2017, according to Statistics Finland.

The cubic volume of building permits granted was 2.0 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The growth was biggest in building permits granted for commercial and office buildings. The cubic volume granted for residential building construction remained on level with the year before.

The cubic volume of building permits granted for residential buildings in January to March was 2.6 million, which was unchanged from one year earlier. In January to March, building permits were granted for a total of 9,228 buildings, growing by 4.2 per cent year-on-year.

In the first quarter, the constant-price value or the volume of ongoing building production increased by 13.0 per cent year-on-year. The volume of construction of residential buildings increased in the period by 11.1 per cent and that of other than residential building construction by 14.5 per cent. Measured by volume, at the same time, 34.2 per cent more building projects and 32.8 per cent more residential building projects were started compared to the year before.