The decline on the construction market has slowed down
According to Statistics Estonia, in the 2nd quarter of 2009 compared to the same period of the previous year, the total production of Estonian construction enterprises decreased 28%. In the 1st quarter of the present year the production was 31% smaller than a year ago.
In the 2nd quarter of 2009 the production value of construction enterprises amounted to 6.6 billion kroons, of which the production value of building construction was 4.1 billion kroons and the production of civil engineering totalled 2.5 billion kroons. Compared to the same quarter of 2008 the volume of building construction decreased by a third and the volume of civil engineering about a fifth at constant prices. The decline was caused mainly by the decreased volumes in dwelling construction on domestic construction market. The construction of civil engineering decreased more compared to the previous periods.
It was a good time for construction enterprises operating in foreign countries. The construction volume in foreign countries increased 3% compared to the 2nd quarter a year ago. The growth was caused by the building construction. The share of construction volumes in the foreign countries has been continuously increasing and amounted to 9% of the total volume of construction in the 2nd quarter.
According to the data of the Register of Construction Works, in the 2nd quarter of 2009 the number of dwelling completions was 951, i.e. a third less than in the same period of 2008. About three quarters of completed dwellings were situated in blocks of flats. In spite of the decreasing construction costs the demand for new dwellings has been continuously decreasing. In the 2nd quarter of 2009 building permits were granted for the construction of 605 dwellings, which is 3.5 times less compared to the same period of 2008. The most popular type of building was one-family dwelling.
In the 2nd quarter of 2009, the number of completed non-residential buildings was 229 with the useful floor area of 269,000 square metres. The useful floor area of office and commercial buildings increased the most. Compared to the 2nd quarter of 2008, the useful floor area of completed non-residential buildings stayed on the same level.
Construction volume index and its trend, 1st quarter 2000 – 2nd quarter 2009
(average of quarters of 2005 = 100)
