At the end of 2022, lower number of dwellings was completed in the SR than a year ago, the decline was milder for the whole year

A slowdown of starting and completion of housing construction was recorded in the 4th quarter of 2022, the start of housing construction decreased by up to a third year-on-year. Throughout the year, however, the number of completed dwellings was only slightly below the level of 2021, compared to the years before the pandemic, almost 16% more dwellings were completed.

In the last three months of 2022, 6,030 dwellings were completed in the SR¹⁾, which represented a year-on-year decrease of 9.1% and at the same time the lowest number of completed dwellings in the last quarter since 2017. However, these numbers were still at the level of values before the pandemic²⁾. The majority, up to 73%, of the completed dwellings were represented by family houses.

For an objective assessment, the SOSR compared the current values with the average state of the 4th quarters in the last five years before the pandemic (from 2015 to 2019)²⁾. In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic had a more considerable impact on a housing construction process in individual quarters.

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The overall development was affected by a year-on-year decrease in completed dwellings and family houses in seven of the eight regions of the SR, recording a double-digit decrease in up to six regions. Prešovský kraj, Bratislavský kraj and Nitriansky kraj recorded the highest year-on-year drop of more than 15%. Žilinský kraj was the only region in which the number of completed dwellings rose sharply by 28% year-on-year.

Compared to the average in the pre-pandemic period²⁾, however, up to 4 regions recorded significantly higher numbers of completed dwellings, the most in Žilinský kraj (+64%) and Prešovský kraj (+26%). On the contrary, the region with the highest share in the total number of completed dwellings, Bratislavský kraj, recorded the highest decline, almost a third.

A slump in starting of construction in 4^th quarter 2022

An even more dynamic slowdown was recorded in the number of started⁴⁾ dwellings, in the 4^th quarter of 2022, the construction of 4,904 dwellings (including FH) started, which was by a third less than in the last three months of 2021. At the same time, it was about a fifth lower number also compared to the pre-pandemic period²⁾. Of the total number of started dwellings, 65% were family houses.

The number of started dwellings decreased year-on-year in most regions of the SR, by more than half in Trnavský kraj and Bratislavský kraj and by a third in Trenčiansky kraj. The exception was development in two regions, where the number of started dwellings increased, year-on-year, by up to a quarter in Nitriansky kraj, slightly in Prešovský kraj.

At the same time, at the end of the year, on 31 December 2022, 80,282 dwellings were under construction in Slovakia, which is approximately the same number as a year ago and at the same time by 8.6% higher number than before the pandemic³⁾.

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Completed and started dwellings for the whole year 2022

In 2022, a total of 20,218 dwellings were completed in the SR, which was by 2.1% lower number than in 2021. However, in the long term, current construction was still more dynamic than before the pandemic²⁾, the number of completed dwellings exceeded the pre-pandemic average by 16%.

The largest concentration of construction continued to be in the region around the capital, in the SR, in 2022, every fifth completed dwelling was located in Bratislavský kraj (22% share of the total construction).

From the point of view of regional development, the number of completed dwellings decreased in 5 out of 8 regions of the SR, most dynamically in Trnavský kraj (-9.2%) and in Bratislavský kraj (-8.8%). On the contrary, an increase in the number of completed dwellings by almost 10% was recorded in Trenčiansky kraj and Žilinský kraj.

Despite the year-on-year decrease, the development in regions was positive in a long-term comparison; in 6 regions, the number of completed dwellings significantly exceeded the values from the years before the pandemic²⁾. Half of the increase was recorded in Žilinský kraj; Nitriansky kraj and Trenčínsky kraj also recorded a growth above 40%. A decrease compared to the years before the pandemic was recorded in only two regions, by almost 18% in Bratislavský kraj and by 7% in Banskobystrický kraj.

In 2022, the construction of 21,000 new dwellings started, which was by 16% more than in 2021. Compared to the pre-pandemic²⁾ period, there were by 1.5% lower number of started dwellings⁴⁾.