Licensed building area surges 16.9% in January — DoS

AMMAN — The local construction sector saw a "notable" growth in January, with total licensed building area expanding by 16.9 per cent year-on-year, moved by a significant surge in non-residential development, the Department of Statistics (DoS) said on Thursday.

The licensed building area reached 839,000 square metres in January, up from 718,000 square metres in January 2024. The total number of building permits issued rose by 5.6 per cent to 1,920, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Analysing permit issuance by classification, residential permits saw a marginal 2 per cent decrease to 579,000 square metres, while non-residential permits registered a substantial 104.6 per cent increase to 260,000 square metres, indicating high demand for commercial and industrial real estate.

The central region of the Kingdom accounted for 67.7 per cent of the total area in January, marking a drop of 8.3 per cent compared with the same period of 2024.

The share of the northern region reached 19.5 per cent, an increase of 3.2 per cent over the same period of 2024, and the southern region accounted for 12.8 per cent of the total area, an increase of 75.3 per cent over the same period of 2024.

In terms of residential permit density at the governorate level, Jerash recorded the highest per capita issuance at 0.076 square metres, while Madaba registered the lowest at 0.016 square metres.

New construction and additions represented 65.2 per cent of total permitted area, totalling 546,000 square metres, a 13 per cent increase from the prior year. While the licensed area of existing buildings constituted 34.8 per cent.