Approved building permits rise 0.5% in January

Approved building permits inched up by 0.5% year on year in January, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.

Preliminary data showed the number of building projects covered by the permits rose to 13,577 in January from 13,504 a year earlier.

This was a turnaround from the 11.5% drop in January 2025 and the revised 2.6% contraction in December.

Construction projects covered 2.80 million square meters (sq.m.) of floor area, down 29.4% year on year from 3.96 million sq.m.

Approved building projects were valued at P37.05 billion in January, lower than the P51.63 billion in the same month in 2025.

“The uptick in January construction permits may be attributed to smaller construction projects being done early in the year,” Marco Antonio C. Agonia, an economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific, said in an email.

“While the headline permit reading looks encouraging, the actual increases were for improvements to existing structures and smaller projects such as streets and billboards,” he added.

Mr. Agonia noted that this contrasts with the year-on-year decline in the total floor area of approved permits for residential and nonresidential projects.

“The pickup in permits reflects deferred projects moving forward as confidence improves, particularly in commercial and infrastructure-related build,” Jonathan L. Ravelas, a senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong & Co., said in a Viber message.

Residential buildings, which made up 60.1% of the total number of constructions, inched down by 0.6% in January to 8,156 from 8,204 a year ago.

This type of construction amounted to P16.97 billion, down from P21.83 billion in the same month in 2025.

According to Mr. Agonia, the annual decline in residential constructions can be attributed to developers being “reluctant to commit to large construction projects early on, instead choosing to defer them.”

For Mr. Ravelas, “residential construction remains cautious as affordability and financing costs still weigh on households.”

Single-type houses, which accounted for 82.5% of the residential constructions, fell 8.7% year on year to 6,727 in January from 7,367.

Meanwhile, nonresidential constructions also dropped 3.8% annually to 3,292 from 3,423. This made up 24.2% of the total number of constructions during the month.

Permits for nonresidential buildings were valued at P16.25 billion, lower than P25.94 billion registered in January 2025.

Commercial building permits contracted 7.2% year on year to 2,315 from 2,495. These made up 70.3% of all nonresidential constructions.

Approved building permits for addition, or any new construction that increases the height or area of an existing building, climbed 4.9% annually to 495 from 472 in the previous year.

On the other hand, alteration and repair totaled 1,111, down 0.4% from 1,115, and were valued at P2.68 billion.

By region, Calabarzon had the greatest number of approved building permits at 3,177, accounting for 23.4% of all permits.

This was followed by Central Luzon (11.7% share with 1,585 permits) and Ilocos Region (8.9% share with 1,204 permits).

Mr. Ravelas sees steady retail price growth looking ahead.

Mr. Agonia expects construction project approvals to remain “the same” in the coming months, citing pressure due to the Middle East war.

“While rate cuts will help, elevated interest rates from the Middle East war, cost pass-throughs for construction materials, and consumer pessimism will likely hamper developer appetite,” he added. — Isa Jane D. Acabal