Housing construction started decreasing, its start-up and completion slowed significantly year-on-year

At the peak of the construction season, there were double-digit year-on-year drops in the issuance of building permits and approvals. The number of started dwellings was significantly behind even the pre-pandemic period, but the completion was higher. The pace of completion and the start of construction slowed year-on-year in up to 6 regions.

In the 3^rd quarter of 2023, the housing construction recorded a significant slowdown. The numbers of started, under-construction and completed dwellings were lower than in the corresponding period last year.

In total, 4 232 dwellings were approved in Slovakia, which was the least since the 1^st quarter of 2022. Year-on-year, the number of completed dwellings decreased by 22%, but compared to the average during the 5 years before the pandemic²⁾ it increased by 5.6%. Family houses made up 62% of the total number of completed dwellings.

For an objective assessment, the current values were compared with the average state of the 3^rd quarters in the last five pre-pandemic years (from 2015 to 2019)²⁾. In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic fundamentally affected the housing construction process in individual quarters.

Download high resolution chart format PDF (394 kB) or PNG (109 kB).

The situation in individual regions was by default very different. The most dwellings were approved in Bratislavský kraj, their number once again exceeded a thousand. On the contrary, Košický kraj had the fewest new dwellings ready for use, only 307 dwellings. As many as 6 out of 8 regions recorded a decline in the number of the completed dwellings. Construction slowed down by more than 30% in Bratislavský, Prešovský kraj and Žilinský kraj. On the contrary, compared to the 3^rd quarter of last year, construction increased significantly in Banskobystrický kraj, by 46%. However, few dwellings are built in this region for a long time, and therefore even a small increase in their number causes significant changes in the pace of construction. The number of permits also increased in Trenčiansky kraj, by 7.2%. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, up to 5 regions recorded a higher number of permits, but the number of completed dwellings decreased in Bratislavský, Košický and Nitriansky kraj.

Download high resolution chart format PDF (158 kB) or PNG (267 kB).

The start of the new construction was not successful. Issuance of building permits has been lagging constantly since the 2^nd quarter of 2022. Currently, at the national level, the number of started dwellings³⁾ decreased by 15.4% year-on-year, with a total of only 4 168 dwellings being built. Compared to the 5-year average of the pre-pandemic years, the construction of the dwellings started dropped by almost a quarter.

From a regional perspective, the highest number of dwellings started to be built in Prešovský kraj, i.e. 814 dwellings, the least in Banskobystrický kraj, only 201 dwellings. The start of construction of new dwellings dropped by more than half in Trenčiansky kraj, by a third in Banskobystrický and Trnavský kraj, and it was lower by more than a quarter in Žilinský kraj. The start the construction of dwellings fared better only in Prešovský and Nitriansky kraj. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, the number of dwellings started in Bratislavský kraj dropped by more than half, and another 5 regions also recorded high declines.

Download high resolution chart format PDF (157 kB) or PNG(273 kB).

By the end of September 2023, 79.1 thousand dwellings were under construction in Slovakia, which was by 2.9% less than a year ago, but compared to the pre-pandemic years⁴⁾ it was by 6.9% more. It continued to be the case that six out of ten dwellings under construction were dwellings in family houses. There were the most dwellings under construction in Bratislavský, Žilinský and Trnavský kraj. The year-on-year construction rate decreased the most in Bratislavský kraj, by 13.8%, and it decreased slightly in the other 4 regions. The growth of dwellings under construction was recorded in Trnavský, Nitriansky and Prešovský kraj. Compared to the pre-pandemic year, construction in the regions rose, with the exception of the Bratislavský and Košický kraj.

In total, for the three quarters of 2023, building authorities approved the completion of 14 021 dwellings, which was by 1.2% less year-on-year, but by almost 23% more than the average of the corresponding periods in the five years before the pandemic (in 2015- 2019)²⁾. At the same time, in the first nine months of 2023, more than 12 500 dwellings were built, which was by a fifth less than a year ago and also by 16.1% less than in the pre-pandemic years.