Construction - October 2006
Building permits up after 21 months of stagnation
Publication Date: 08. 12. 2006
Product Code: r-8202-06
Seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices was higher by 0.3% in October 2006, compared to the previous month. Compared to October 2005, output at constant prices grew by 7.1%. The planning and building control authorities granted 13 784 building permits. Building permits were up by 3.6% year-on-year, which is the first increase since January 2005. Approximate value of permitted constructions reached CZK 29.8 billion and was by 27.6% higher year-on-year.
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Seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices increased by 0.3% month-on-month in October 2006. The trend rose by 0.6% month-on-month (see Table 3).

Year-on-year, total construction output at constant prices grew by 7.1% (by 3.8% working days adjusted; October 2006 had 2 working days more). Year-on-year increases in volumes of construction work were registered nearly in all types of construction, especially in new building construction, reconstruction and modernisation.
Construction work of contractors and subcontractors to enterprises with 20+ employees grew by 7.2% year-on-year at constant prices. New construction, reconstruction and modernisation recorded a 5.4% increase (contribution 4.6 percentage points), of which building construction grew by 9.8% (contribution 4.6 p.p.). Civil engineering remained constant year-on-year (contribution 0.0 p.p.). Repair and maintenance rose by 7.3% (contribution 0.9 p.p.). Construction work done abroad more than doubled (contribution 2.2 p.p.). Other construction work fell by 44.3% (contribution -0.5 p.p.).
Employment in construction enterprises with 20+ employees dropped by 0.6% against October 2005. Average monthly nominal wage of employees increased by 9.4% year-on-year and reached CZK 21 144 (real wage was up by 8.0%). Average hourly wage increased by 2.6% year-on-year and stood at CZK 130. Labour productivity per employee rose by 7.8% and labour productivity per hour worked grew by 1.1%. Unit wage costs increased by 1.5%.
The planning and building control authorities granted 13 784 building permits in October 2006 (of which 7 660 for new constructions and 6 124 for renewals and enhancements). For the first time since January 2005 the number of building permits granted is higher year-on-year (+3.6%).
The approximate value of constructions permitted in October 2006 reached CZK 29.8 billion and increased by 27.6% compared to October 2005. A low comparable basis was one of the causes behind this growth. New constructions should reach the value of CZK 19.8 billion (up by 20.8%, contribution 14.6 p.p.) and renewals and enhancements CZK 10.0 billion (up by 43.6%, contribution 13.0 p.p.). By type of constructions, the highest increases in approximate value of building permits were observed for non-residential buildings (up by 34.6%, contribution 12.0 p.p.), residential buildings (up by 31.2%, contribution 10.8 p.p.) and other constructions (up by 52.1%, contribution 8.8 p.p.). The only decrease was recorded for environmental constructions (down by 28.8%, contribution -4.0 p.p.).
The growth of approximate value of building permits was driven by renewals and enhancements to other constructions (up by 121.4%, contribution 7.4 p.p.) where, in comparison to October 2005, the planning and building control authorities permitted expensive modernisation and reconstruction of railway route sections and repair and improvements of regional roads. The growth of approximate value of new non-residential buildings (up by 47.4%, contribution 9.8 p.p.) was due to expensive construction projects such as sports halls, public entertainment buildings and warehouses.
The planning and building control authorities permitted 3 867 dwellings to be constructed, which was by 541 dwellings more (up by 16.3%) than in October 2005. Out of that, 3 277 dwellings (+405 y-o-y) will be newly constructed and 590 dwellings (+136 y-o-y) will be obtained by renewals and enhancements. The approximate value of newly permitted dwellings in multi-dwelling buildings reached CZK 8.3 billion.
The planning and building control authorities permitted the construction of buildings with a floor space of 796.0 thousand m2 (up by 7.6% on October 2005). The floor space of new buildings was 749.3 thousand m2 and of renewals and enhancements 46.7 thousand m2. Construction of dwellings with the average floor space of 124.2 m2 per dwelling and approximate value CZK 19.6 thousand per m2 was permitted for new residential buildings.
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 December 2006
End of data processing: 6 December 2006
Related publications: /2-ep-8
8201-06 Construction
8202-06 Building Permits Granted
The data in Table 1 for August and September are revised; data for October are preliminary and will be updated when data for December 2006 are released.
The data in Table 2 are final.