THE number and value of construction projects covered by approved building permits posted a decline in May, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Approved construction projects totaled 12,888 during the month, a 15.4-percent drop from 15,234 projects in May last year. On month-to-month basis, it was also lower by 5.78 percent from 13,680 building permits recorded in April 2024.

The value of approved projects reached P39.3 billion, or 6.5 percent less than last year's P42 billion and also lower than the previous month's P39.7 billion.

Residential buildings accounted for the majority of approved constructions at 8,165 or 63.4 percent of the total. However, the latest figure reflected a year-on-year drop.

"It recorded an annual drop of 20.1 percent from the same month of the previous year's level of 10,214 constructions," the PSA said in a report dated August 7.

Majority of the total residential construction work involved 7,112 single-type houses valued at P12.53 billion.

Nonresidential construction, meanwhile, reached 3,017 during the month and recorded the highest value at P15.04 billion.

The latest number of nonresidential constructions fell by 7.7 percent during the month in comparison to last year's 3,268.

In terms of types of structures, the PSA said that residential buildings had the highest average cost of P13,416.26 per square meter (sqm) in May.

This was followed by nonresidential constructions at P9,368 per sqm, and addition to existing constructions with P9,333.43 per sqm.

Meanwile, the aggregate floor area of approved construction projects declined by 13.5 percent to 3.15 million sqm from last year's 3.64 million sqm.

Nonresidential constructions covered 1.59 million sqm during the month or 50.5 percent of the total floor area, while residential constructions recorded 1.5 million sqm or 47.7 percent.

The PSA said that Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) recorded the highest construction projects and value as of May with 3,341 approved building permits amounting to P8.9 billion.

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