Building permits issued and construction started - Second quarter of 2025

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Building permits issued and construction started - Second quarter of 2025

In the second quarter of 2025, the municipal authorities issued building permits for the construction of 2 049 residential buildings with 10 089 dwellings and 1 305 022 sq. m gross building area, 15 administrative buildings/offices with 23 744 sq. m gross building area and 1 209 other buildings with 576 557 sq. m gross building area.

Compared to the previous quarter, the issued building permits for residential buildings decreased by 1.7%, their dwellings - by 4.6%, while the gross building area went up by 0.2%. Building permits issued for administrative buildings showed an increase by 25.0% and their gross building area increased more than five times. The issued building permits for other buildings rose by 11.9%, but their gross building area fell by 5.9%.

 

 

Compared to the second quarter of 2024, the issued building permits for new residential buildings increased by 5.9%, the gross building area - by 9.5%, while their dwellings decreased by 1.8%. Permits were issued for 6.3% fewer administrative buildings, with a 30.6% larger gross building area. The issued building permits for other buildings grew by 3.1% and their gross building area by 29.6%.

 

 

The highest number of building permits for new residential buildings was issued in the following districts: Plovdiv - 353, Sofia - 245, Sofia (stolitsa) - 216, Varna - 207 and Burgas - 162. Most dwellings are to be built in the districts: Sofia (stolitsa) - 2 531, Plovdiv - 1 994, Varna - 1 331, Burgas - 1 237, and Sofia - 544 (Annex, Table 1).

In the second quarter of 2025, the construction of 1 640 residential buildings with 8 064 dwellings and 963 046 sq. m gross building area, 23 administrative buildings/offices with 19 791 sq. m gross building area and 644 other buildings with 366 485 sq. m gross building area began.

Compared to the previous quarter, the started residential buildings increased by 14.6%, their dwellings - by 32.4%, and the gross building area - by 30.3%. The started administrative buildings and their gross building area registered a growth of 91.7% and 180.7%, respectively. The construction of 11.8% more other buildings begun, but with 36.2% less gross building area.

 

 

Compared to the second quarter of 2024, the number of started new residential buildings decreased by 3.7%, their dwellings - by 8.5%, and the gross building area - by 7.5%. The number of started administrative buildings went up by 64.3%, but their gross building area was with 7.2% fewer. The started other buildings fell by 3.0% and their gross building area - by 18.6%.

 

 

The construction of the highest number of new buildings was started in the following districts: Plovdiv - 243 residential buildings, 4 administrative buildings and 115 other buildings; Sofia (stolitsa) - 295 residential buildings, 11 administrative buildings and 17 other buildings; Sofia - 168 residential buildings, 3 administrative buildings and 46 other buildings; Varna - 177 residential buildings and 20 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

 

Building permits, issued for the construction of new buildings in the second quarter of 2025
Residential buildings Administrative buildings Other buildings
Districts Number Number of dwellings Gross building area - sq. m Number Gross building area - sq. m Number Gross building area - sq. m
Total 2049 10089 1305022 15 23744 1209 576557
Blagoevgrad 119 394 47650 - - 31 27079
Burgas 162 1237 131972 - - 50 45198
Varna 207 1331 155594 .. .. 46 18248
Veliko Tarnovo 21 35 3679 - - 65 13398
Vidin 7 8 1319 - - 6 2351
Vratsa 18 79 11761 .. .. 38 11981
Gabrovo 32 77 10863 - - 19 7021
Dobrich 42 46 6511 - - 21 8003
Kardzhali 40 199 24814 - - 5 1299
Kyustendil 18 18 3771 - - 43 14728
Lovech 26 57 6423 - - 26 7752
Montana 15 51 6199 - - 10 3578
Pazardzhik 96 325 31732 - - 46 26279
Pernik 86 122 20390 - - 53 5144
Pleven 17 46 5246 .. .. 34 32344
Plovdiv 353 1994 229434 3 255 180 134352
Razgrad 8 12 1640 - - 31 11234
Ruse 29 51 7386 - - 62 11630
Silistra 16 15 3726 - - 34 10015
Sliven 30 61 8819 - - 13 2855
Smolyan 9 9 1281 - - 13 2542
Sofia 245 544 84910 .. .. 93 67218
Sofia (stolitsa) 216 2531 397448 5 11559 28 42091
Stara Zagora 119 306 37680 .. .. 138 28027
Targovishte 15 79 7746 - - 6 346
Haskovo 54 205 25701 .. .. 29 18007
Shumen 28 217 25606 - - 67 15668
Yambol 21 40 5721 - - 22 8169
".." Confidential data

Table 2

 

Building construction started in the second quarter of 2025
Residential buildings Administrative buildings Other buildings
Districts Number Number of dwellings Gross building area - sq. m Number Gross building area - sq. m Number Gross building area - sq. m
Total 1640 8064 963046 23 19791 644 366485
Blagoevgrad 92 395 43238 .. .. 44 15019
Burgas 122 1647 156752 - - 23 22929
Varna 177 819 85203 .. .. 20 16302
Veliko Tarnovo 35 80 8589 - - 20 13112
Vidin 3 4 468 - - - -
Vratsa 9 61 7325 - - 12 7908
Gabrovo 20 45 5746 - - 5 1046
Dobrich 39 81 13016 .. .. 7 979
Kardzhali 19 96 11799 - - 5 1685
Kyustendil 13 13 2857 .. .. 18 6121
Lovech 26 39 4865 - - 15 3375
Montana 10 46 5217 - - 7 9854
Pazardzhik 50 277 27408 - - 56 17215
Pernik 87 122 19661 - - 23 3676
Pleven 10 11 1893 - - 12 2930
Plovdiv 243 1189 149796 4 671 115 52901
Razgrad 12 12 1455 - - 8 2395
Ruse 16 44 5647 - - 23 21736
Silistra 6 9 1569 - - 18 6752
Sliven 29 30 6476 - - 7 3361
Smolyan 5 24 3363 - - 10 1218
Sofia 168 222 35729 3 1288 46 92752
Sofia (stolitsa) 295 1914 258208 11 10424 17 12214
Stara Zagora 78 436 48695 - - 83 28265
Targovishte 5 5 1202 - - 4 6879
Haskovo 36 227 26401 - - 16 8108
Shumen 16 190 27288 - - 26 6064
Yambol 19 26 3180 - - 4 1689
".." Confidential data