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Holiday sees decline in number of building plans approved

As expected, the number of building plans approved by  the City of Windhoek, excluding walls and pools, declined in December to 122 from 212 in November. Although the decline was expected, the number was however significant translating to a 42% month-on-month decline and a 32% decline from December 2010.
But despite the drop in the number of plans approved, the total value of approved plans however increased by 23% monthly and by 79% annually in December, with N$136.9million worth of plans being approved.
According to a researcher at Simonis Storm Securities, Rudolf Kuschke, the decrease in the number of plans approved was typical for the month of December, with many people on vacation and the builders’ holiday effectively shortening the month.
All three categories measured decreased in December, with 109 of the 122 plans falling in the “additions category” and totaling N$23.6 million in value. Only one commercial plan totaling N$100 million in value was approved. This plan according to Kuschke distorted the numbers somewhat, causing total value approved to increase 79% year-on-year. Another 12 plans fell under “flats and houses” and totaled N$13.3 million in value.
In 2011 2,569 plans to the value of N$1.603 billion were approved. The number and value of plans approved in 2011 have been closely tracking 2010’s. Relative to 2010, the 2011 number of plans approved is 1% lower, while the value of plans approved is 3.8% higher.
The six-month moving average of value of plans approved increased by 2.3% to N$139 milion from N$135.9 million in November, while on a yearly basis the measure jumped by 19.9%.
Excluding walls and pools, 75 plans (valued at N$42.3 million) were completed in December, which represented an 18% year-on-year decrease from 82 plans in November. The value of plans completed however, increased by 11% annually and by 23% on the month.
Of the 75 plans completed, 57 plans were additions to the value of N$15.8 million, while 17 plans fell in the “flats and houses” category and totaled a value of N$20.5million. Furthermore  one commercial plan to the value of N$6 million was completed in December.
The six-month moving average of the total value of plans completed dropped for the third successive month, although it was still 33.8% higher than in December 2010 at N$67.8million.
The 12-month moving average of the total value approved amounted to N$133.6 million for 2011, which is 3.8% higher than the average for 2010 at N$128.6million. The 12-month moving average for completed plans were N$62.4 million, 20.9% higher than a year ago at N$51.6 million; this means that completed buildings have been completed faster than new ones were being approved in 2011.

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