By:Staff writer
Although Windhoek continues to see growth in building approvals, the pace at which this is developing has made 2023 the lowest for building plan approvals since 2009.
The municipality approved 190 building plans in June, which is 26 more than in May.
This presents a 15.9% increase from the previous month. This is after buildings approved in Windhoek also increased from 131 in April to 164 in May.
In fact, in terms of value, the building plans shot up by N$96.9 million, from the N$121 million seen in May to N$217.7 million in May.
According to the economists at IJG, the spike in the commercial value for June was driven primarily by a large (N$100 million) commercial building plan approval planned for in the Kleine Kuppe area.
However, despite the increase, the 915 building plans worth N$709.2 million approved for the first half of the year are still 19.7% lower than the number of approvals over the same period last year, and 6.1% lower in value terms.
“Although June’s building plans approvals data has so far been the best we have seen so far this year, the number of approvals during the first half of 2023 was the lowest first six months since 2020. Moreover, in value terms, 2023 is off to the worst start since 2009. The 12-month cumulative value of building plans approved has been ticking down steadily in real terms since 2013 and is trending at levels last seen in 2009.”
Over the last 12 months, 2,243 building plans worth N$1.71 billion were approved, which the IJG economists say is a decline of 8.9% in number- and 3.9% in value terms over the comparative 12-month period a year ago.
“A total of 48 building plans worth N$22.0 million were completed during the month.”
Meanwhile, residents of Windhoek paid N$55.1 million for 142 additions to their properties in June.
“This is the highest monthly number of additions to properties we have seen thus far in 2023. To illustrate the decline in construction activity in recent years, only two months in 2014 and three in 2015 recorded a lower number of additions to properties than the best month so far in 2023,” the economists said.
They further observed that the monthly average value of additions to properties approved stood at N$44.3 million at the end of June
This is N$20.3 million lower than the average over the first half of 2022, and N$10.7 million lower than the average for the first half of 2020, which contained the lockdown periods.
18 Additions to properties were completed in June.
City Building Plans Trajectory Lowest Since 2009
