Construction - August 2006

In August, seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices was down by 0.4% month-on-month. In terms of year-on-year comparison, total construction output at constant prices grew by 6.4%. The planning and building control authorities granted 13 594 building permits, which was by 5.6% less year-on-year. The approximate value of permitted constructions reached CZK 36.4 billion and was down by 1.3% year-on-year.
Seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices decreased by 0.4% month-on-month. The trend rose by 0.9% month-on-month (see Table 3).

Year-on-year, total construction output grew by 6.4% (constant prices) and slowed down, following three months’ double-digit growth. Increase in the volume of construction work on civil engineering works, especially on repair and maintenance thereof, continued. The volume of construction work on new buildings grew too.

Construction work of contractors and subcontractors to enterprises with 20+ employees grew by 6.3% year-on-year at constant prices. Increases were registered for nearly all kinds of construction work. New construction, reconstruction and modernisation rose by 6.3% (contribution 5.4 percentage points), of which building was up by 10.8% (contribution 5.3 p. p.) and civil engineering by 0.2% (contribution 0.1 p. p.). Construction work on repair and maintenance grew by 10.2% (contribution 1.2 p. p.). Work done abroad increased by 33.3% (contribution 0.5 p. p.). Other work fell by 57.7% (contribution -0.8 p. p.).

Employment in construction enterprises with 20+ employees remained at the same level as in August 2005. The average monthly nominal wage of employees increased by 7.9% year-on-year and reached CZK 20 593 (real wage was up by 4.7%). The average hourly wage increased by 6.5% year-on-year and stood at CZK 131. Labour productivity per employee rose by 6.3% and labour productivity per hour worked grew by 4.9%. Unit wage costs increased by 1.5%.

The planning and building control authorities granted 13 594 building permits in August 2006 (of which 6 901 for new constructions and 6 693 for renewals and enhancements). The number of building permits granted decreased by 5.6% year-on-year.

The approximate value of constructions permitted in August 2006 reached CZK 36.4 billion and was down by 1.3% on August 2005. New constructions should reach the value of CZK 23.5 billion (up by 16.6%, contribution 9.1 percentage points) and renewals and enhancements CZK 12.9 billion (down by 22.9%, contribution -10.4 p. p.). By types of constructions, approximate value of building permits for residential buildings grew most (up by 13.6%, contribution 3.6 p. p.), whereas the figures for other constructions sizeably decreased (down by 18.4%, contribution -6.2 p. p.).
Increase in the approximate value of building permits granted for other constructions was mainly affected by construction of non-residential buildings (up by 22.4%, contribution 4.3 p. p.), where the planning and building control authorities permitted the construction of larger and more expensive office buildings and industrial buildings in comparison to August 2005. As to renewals and enhancements, a marked decrease of approximate value was recorded for other constructions (down by 33.3%, contribution -8.1 p. p.), which was largely affected by last year’s high comparable basis (investment-intensive constructions related to modernisation of railways and roads were permitted in August 2005).

The planning and building control authorities permitted 4 270 dwellings to be constructed, which was by 104 dwellings more than in August 2005. Out of that, 3 761 dwellings will be built as new constructions (+300 permitted dwellings year-on-year) and 509 dwellings will be obtained by renewals and enhancements (-196 permitted dwellings year-on-year). The approximate value of newly permitted dwellings in multi-dwelling buildings reached CZK 9.1 billion.

The planning and building control authorities permitted, further, the construction of buildings with a floor space of 960.4 thousand m2 (+9.2% on August 2005). The floor space of new buildings was 919.0 thousand m2 and of renewals and enhancements 41.4 thousand m2. Construction of dwellings with an average floor space of 127.7 m2 per dwelling and approximate value CZK 18.0 thousand per m2 was permitted for new residential buildings.

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Note
Contact: Vladimír Zikmund, phone (+420) 274054252, e-mail: vladimir.zikmund@csu.gov.cz
Data source: CZSO direct survey in enterprises and planning and building control authorities
End of data collection: 5 October 2006
End of data processing: 6 October 2006
Related publications: /1-ep-8
8201-06 Construction
8202-06 Building Permits Granted

The data in Table 1 for June were revised, for July and August are preliminary and will be updated when data for October 2006 are published.
The data in Table 2 are final.