City of Windhoek approves more building plans
The City of Windhoek approved a total of 306 building plans in October, 72 more than in September.
In value terms, approvals rose by N$194.1 million to N$327.7 million in October from N$133.6 million worth of approvals in September. However, a total of 65 building plans were completed at a value of N$54.8 million in October, a decrease of 73.4% in number and 50.1% in value of completions.
The largest number of building plan approvals in October was made up of additions to properties. 186 additions to properties were approved with a value of N$67 million, while new residential units were the second largest contributor to the number of building plans approved with 115 approvals registered in October, 30 more than in September. In value terms, N$242.9 million worth of residential units were approved in October.
5 New commercial units, valued at N$18.0 million, were approved in October, bringing the year-to-date number of commercial and industrial approvals to 38, worth a total of N$295.0 million.
Despite the last 3 months having seen a steady uptick in the 12-month cumulative number of plans approved in the capital, the cumulative value of plans approved is still trending downward from a longer-term perspective.
“The value of plans completed has however recovered more significantly, although as we have cautioned in the past, this could simply be due to a completions backlog (paperwork backlog) which is now being processed by the City of Windhoek, making it difficult to say when the actual construction activity took place,” IJG research noted.
