Data show lower construction licences issued during first quarter of 2015

AMMAN — Construction licences issued during the first quarter of 2015 reached 7,931 licences, 27 per cent less than the 10,857 licences issued in the same period of 2014, the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced Wednesday.

The total area of licensed buildings in the first three months of this year stood at 2.9 million square metres, compared with 3.98 million square metres in the same period of 2014.

Buildings for housing purposes accounted for  2.53 million square metres of the total licensed buildings in the January-March period of 2015, compared to 3.34 million square metres in the same period of 2014, marking a 24.3 per cent decline.

Non-housing licensed buildings dropped to 380,000 square metres in the first quarter of 2015, while it stood at 635,000 square metres in the same period of 2014, according to DoS figures. On governorate basis, Amman topped the list of licensed buildings with 50.7 per cent, followed by Irbid with 20.6 per cent, Zarqa 9.3 per cent and Balqaa 5.4 per cent, the DoS revealed.