Construction Activity Report Q1 2022
The Q1 2022 results demonstrate the construction industry’s sustained resilience in the face of a variety of unique problems, including increased material costs, supply disruptions, Brexit, the pandemic, rising fuel costs, and other effects of the Ukraine conflict.
New project starts on the island totaled slightly over €3 billion for the quarter, up from a three-year quarterly average of €2.3 billion.
Across industries, there are differences in course. For the third straight quarter, new residential starts declined to €979 million (excluding new phases of existing developments). Non-residential starts increased by 27% in Q1 to €1.2 billion, compared to the quarterly average over the previous three years. Medical, retail, and hospitality were the only industries where new starts fell below the prior three-year average.
Source: CIS Q1 Report 2022
Plans Submitted & Approved
In Q1 2022, the value of ROI planning applications filed was €3.5 billion, up from the previous three-year average but down 21% from the previous quarter. The number of residential units climbed by 31% to almost 18,000 in compared to the same period previous year. The number of apartments planned is 9,681, up 18.5 percent over the previous year, and exceeds the number of traditional residential units, which is 8,263. From Q1 2021, a 2% drop in the value of homes in the Eastern and Midland Regions is offset by increases in the Southern (69%) and Northern and Western Regions (123 percent ). Non-residential planning applications totaled €1.6 billion in the first quarter, up 36% from the same period last year and 8% from the previous quarter. Among the proposals were plans for 911 hotel beds, 682 nursing care beds, and 273 classrooms. The significant growth in the business sector this quarter was mostly due to plans for new offices. The hotel industry expanded, but at €118 million, it fell short of the three-year average of €150 million.
Planning grants for residential applications were €1.9 billion, down 16 percent from the same quarter last year and 12 percent from the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2021, a total of 272 projects were approved, totaling 9,686 residential units, a 16 percent increase over the previous quarter. In terms of planned projects, apartments and traditional housing were almost equal, with one and two-bedroom apartments accounting for approximately half of all awards. In the Eastern and Midland areas, the number of units given permission decreased by 10%. The number of units sanctioned in the southern area jumped by 151 percent, to over 3000.
The value of plans issued in the non-residential sector was €1.3 billion in Q1, down 15% from the previous three-year average and 15% from the same time last year. A total of 15 hotel projects with over 1,000 hotel beds were authorized. In the business sector, 168 projects totaling €270 million have been authorized, down 34% from the first quarter of 2021. 63 new projects have been approved in the education sector, including proposals for 254 new classrooms. A total of 196 additional hospital beds and 354 nursing care beds have been approved in the medical sector. In the first quarter of 2021, 67 public-sector projects were authorized, totaling €222 million in investment, a 19 percent reduction from the first quarter of the previous year.
Source: CIS Q1 Report 2022
Projects Commenced
A total of 5.3k units have been started in new projects, which is fewer than the three-year average of slightly more than 6k. In comparison to Q1 2021, when the economy was partly shut down, all areas have experienced significant growth. 160 new housing projects totaling €932 million were launched in the third quarter. Apartments and houses are being constructed at the same time. In the first quarter of 2022, 342 new non-residential projects totaling little over €1 billion were started. Starts in 2022 are expected to surpass last year’s record of €9.6 billion, representing a 28 percent rise over the previous three-year average of €805 million and a 140 percent increase over Q4 2021. 539 hotel beds, 274 nursing care beds, and 217 classrooms were all opened during the quarter.
