Building permits issued and construction started - Third quarter of 2025

In the third quarter of 2025, the municipal authorities issued building permits for the construction of 2 292 residential buildings with 13 541 dwellings and 1 475 933 sq. m gross building area, 16 administrative buildings/offices with 14 736 sq. m gross building area and 1 271 other buildings with 683 709 sq. m gross building area.

Compared to the previous quarter, the issued building permits for residential buildings increased by 11.9%, their dwellings - by 34.2%, and the gross building area - by 13.1%. Permits were issued for 6.7% more administrative buildings, with a 37.9% fewer gross building area. The issued building permits for other buildings grew by 5.1% and their gross building area - by 18.6%.

Compared to the third quarter of 2024, the issued building permits for new residential buildings increased by 8.5%, their dwellings - by 46.9%, and the gross building area - by 32.3%. Building permits issued for administrative buildings have shown a decrease by 11.1% and their gross building area - by 75.6%. The issued building permits for other buildings went up by 9.4% and their gross building area - by 19.4%.

The highest number of building permits for new residential buildings was issued in the following districts: Plovdiv - 442, Sofia (stolitsa) - 230, Sofia - 226, Varna - 215, and Burgas - 186. Most dwellings are to be built in the districts: Plovdiv - 3 744, Sofia (stolitsa) - 3 000, Burgas - 2 090, Varna - 1 236, and Blagoevgrad - 445 (Annex, Table 1).

In the third quarter of 2025, the construction of 1 797 residential buildings with 6 443 dwellings and 880 935 sq. m gross building area, 9 administrative buildings/offices with 7 284 sq. m gross building area and 654 other buildings with 418 159 sq. m gross building area began.

Compared to the previous quarter, the started residential buildings increased by 9.6%, but their dwellings fell by 20.1% and the gross building area - by 8.5%. The started administrative buildings and their gross building area registered a drop of 60.9% and 63.2%, respectively. The construction of 1.6% more other buildings has begun, with 14.1% larger gross building area.

Compared to the third quarter of 2024, the number of started new residential buildings increased by 15.7%, but their dwellings fell by 3.9% and the gross building area - by 5.8%. The number of started administrative buildings decreased by 25.0% and their gross building area - by 66.9%. The started other buildings rose by 13.1%, but with 4.7% less gross building area.

The construction of the highest number of new buildings was started in the following districts: Plovdiv - 287 residential buildings and 62 other buildings; Sofia (stolitsa) - 308 residential buildings, 5 administrative buildings and 30 other buildings; Sofia - 174 residential buildings and 44 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