New housing starts up sharply, but building permits show a slight decline in August

In August, 33.862 housing units were authorized for construction, including 11.928 single-family homes (+0,9% over one month) and 21.934 collective housing units (-2,6% over one month).

The Ministry's Data and Statistical Studies Service (SDES) has revised the data from previous monthly publications and changed the calculation method.

Building permits issued in July, previously announced as stable, are ultimately down 5% compared to June, a month in which the number of permits granted reached 36.100 housing units, the highest since August 2022, before the collapse in new construction.

In total, 365.179 housing units were authorized for construction between September 2024 and August 2025, "i.e. 14% less than the average of the previous five years," according to the SDES, which no longer refers to the pre-Covid period for long-term comparisons.

The number of building permits is recovering after an inexorable decline that began in August 2022, when it peaked at 532.300 housing units authorized over the previous twelve months.

As for construction site openings, with 30.192 construction site starts in August, they returned to a level equivalent to January 2023.

New construction sites for single-family homes are the main contributors, with a 24,9% increase over the month. Construction sites for multi-family housing are up 19,3%.

The ministry states that the new data collection methodology "aims to limit data revisions, even if these may remain significant for the most recent months given the still partial rate of information reporting."

New construction has been facing a serious crisis for nearly three years due to rising construction costs, rising interest rates that have blocked the property purchase plans of many households, and the end of measures to support rental investment.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.