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By Darwin G. Amojelar Reporter
THE number of approved building
permits nationwide dropped by double-digits in the fourth quarter of
last year owing to higher construction material costs, the National
Statistics Office (NSO) reported Friday.
The annual inflation rate of
construction materials in Metro Manila stood at 3.4 percent in
December, 3.6 percent in November and 3.7 percent in October.
The NSO said the total number of
building construction reached 20,737 during the fourth quarter of
last year, or 14.8 percent lower than the 24,330 building permit
applications recorded during the same quarter in 2006.
The agency said residential
building construction dropped 10.3 percent to 14,441 from 16,096 the
year before. Likewise, combined approved building permits for
additions, alterations and repairs decreased slightly by 0.3 percent
to 3,842 from 3,854.
The NSO said approved permits for
non-residential building construction posted a significant drop of
44 percent to 2,454 from 4,380 in 2006.
Across the country, the
Cala-barzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal and Quezon) growth area
recorded the highest number of approved building permits with 4,466
applications. However, this was 28.3 percent lower than the 6,230
applications reported during the fourth quarter of the previous
year.
Central Visayas followed with a
total of 2,805 applications, higher than the 2,747 applications
reported during the same quarter of the previous year.
The NSO said the total value of
construction during the period amounted to P26.3 billion, a
0.5-percent increase from P26.2 billion recorded during the same
period of 2006.
Of the total, residential
building construction was valued at P12.4 billion and
non-residential building construction, P11 billion.
In contrast, combined value for
additions, alterations and repairs, went up by 41 percent to P2.9
billion from P2 billion registered during the same quarter of the
previous year.
In terms of average cost per
square meter, residential building construction posted a 1.4-percent
drop to P6,741 from P6,837 per square meter during the same quarter
of the previous year.
For non-residential building
construction the average cost was P7,648 per square meter.
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