Planning and Statistics Authority is pleased to publish the sixty-second issue of the monthly Statistics of Building Permits and Building Completion certificates issued by all municipalities of the State.

Building permits and building completion certificates data is of particular importance as it is considered an indicator for the performance of the construction sector which in turn occupies a significant position in the national economy.

This press release is intended to give a brief overview of the nature of these monthly permits and certificates in terms of their geographical distribution (according to the municipalities) and types of these permits and certificates as well as details about categories of the different types of buildings, whether they are residential or non-residential.

It is worth mentioning that the release of this monthly data comes under the joint cooperation between the Planning and Statistics Authority and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment to make use of the existing electronic link between the two sides.

First: Building Permits:

In a quick review of the data on building permits issued during the month of February  2020, according to their geographical distribution, we find that municipality of Al Doha comes at the top of the municipalities where the number of building permits issued were 177 permits, i.e. 27% of the total issued permits, while municipality of Al Rayyan came in second place with 169 permits, i.e. 25%, followed by Al Wakrah municipality with 126 permits, i.e.19%, then municipality of Al Da'ayen with 102 permits, i.e.15%. The rest of the municipalities were as follows: Umm Slal 43 permits (6%), Al Khor  20 permits (3%), Al Sheehaniya 16 permits (2%), and finally Al Shammal 11 permits (2%).

In terms of type of permits issued, data indicates that the new building permits (residential and non-residential) constitutes 55% (364 permits) of the total building permits issued during the month of February  2020, while the percentage of additions permits constituted 43% (283 permits), and finally fencing permits with 3% (17 permits).

By analyzing new residential buildings permits data, we find that villas’ top the list, accounting for 79% (230 permits) of all new residential buildings permits, followed by dwellings of housing loans permits by 11% (31 permits) and apartments buildings by 8% (23 permits).

On the other hand, commercial buildings were found to be in the forefront of non-residential buildings permits with 35% (25 permits), followed by governmental buildings with 25% (18 permits) , then industrial buildings e.g. workshops and factories with 23% (16 permits).

Comparing number of permits issued in February 2020 with those issued in the previous month we noted a general decrease of  5%. The decrease was noted in most of the municipalities: Al Shammal (31%), Al Khor (29%), Al Sheehaniya (20%), Al Da'ayen (16%), Al Rayyan (14%), Al Wakrah (5%), On the other hand, there was a clear increase in the municipality of Umm Slal (43%), Al Doha (17%).