Building permits issued and construction started - Fourth quarter of 2025

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the municipal authorities issued building permits for the construction of 2 425 residential buildings with 15 642 dwellings and 1 797 318 sq. m gross building area, 14 administrative buildings/offices with 13 516 sq. m gross building area and 1 307 other buildings with 769 509 sq. m gross building area.

Compared to the previous quarter, the issued building permits for residential buildings increased by 5.8%, their dwellings - by 15.5%, and the gross building area - by 21.8%. Building permits issued for administrative buildings have shown a decrease by 12.5% and their gross building area - by 8.3%. The issued building permits for other buildings went up by 2.8% and their gross building area - by 12.5%.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, the issued building permits for new residential buildings increased by 26.6%, their dwellings - by 58.6%, and the gross building area - by 62.9%. The issued building permits for administrative buildings and their gross building area went down by 6.7% and 61.3%, respectively. The issued building permits for other buildings grew by 10.3% and their gross building area - by 22.5%.

The highest number of building permits for new residential buildings was issued in the following districts: Plovdiv - 465, Sofia (stolitsa) - 299, Sofia - 267, Varna - 192, and Burgas - 166. Most dwellings are to be built in the districts: Plovdiv - 4 452, Sofia (stolitsa) - 3 864, Varna - 2 414, Burgas - 1 322, and Blagoevgrad - 845 (Annex, Table 1).

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the construction of 1 783 residential buildings with 9 177 dwellings and 1 163 332 sq. m gross building area, 6 administrative buildings/offices with 2 999 sq. m gross building area and 650 other buildings with 480 067 sq. m gross building area began.

Compared to the previous quarter, the started residential buildings fell by 0.8%, but their dwellings increased by 42.4% and the gross building area - by 32.1%. The started administrative buildings and their gross building area registered a drop of 33.3% and 58.8%, respectively. The started other buildings were fewer by 0.6%, but with 14.8% larger gross building area.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, the number of started new residential buildings increased by 15.9%, their dwellings - by 6.7%, and the gross building area - by 21.6%. The number of started administrative buildings decreased by 25.0% and their gross building area - by 50.9%. The construction of 8.3% more other buildings has started with 28.5% larger gross building area.

The construction of the highest number of new buildings was started in the following districts: Plovdiv - 402 residential buildings and 90 other buildings; Sofia (stolitsa) - 194 residential buildings and 18 other buildings; Sofia - 176 residential buildings and 39 other buildings (Annex, Table 2).

Methodological notes

The quarterly statistical survey of permits issued for construction collects information about building permits issued by municipal authorities as well as for the started construction of new buildings according to their type and gross building area. This information may be used as an indicator of the future construction activity of enterprises in the country.

Types of buildings are classified according to the Classification of types of construction (CC) and are divided into:

• Residential - buildings for which the useful floor area is mostly used for permanent residential habitation.
• Non-residential - buildings for various purposes, including:

 - administrative - offices and buildings for administrative work of departments and other organizations and associations (representative buildings - banks, post offices, government department offices, conference and congress centres, low courts, municipalities);

 - other buildings - buildings used for different activities: production, trade, transport, education, culture, sports, agriculture, health, recreation and facilities for a short stay (hotels, motels, rest houses, huts and others).

Gross building area - a sum of all floors’ areas in external dimensions.

Annex

Table 1

Table 2