The figures include construction by Estonian companies abroad; taking the home market alone, construction volume fell by 5 percent on year to Q2 2020, Statistics Estonia says.

The production value for construction enterprises totalled €743 million; €503 million of this was made up of building work, which fell by 12 percent on year, and €240 million on civil engineering work – roads, bridges, port facilities, pipelines and other projects – which actually rose by 2 percent on year, the agency said.

Merike Sinisaar, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said the domestic construction market was affected the most by a decrease by an almost 10 percent fall in the volume of building construction.

"The construction volume of civil engineering works has started to grow this year compared to the same period last year, but it does not make up for the decline in the volume of building construction," Sinisaar said. 

Tallinn as the capital was the hub of most new builds, along with municipalities in the commuter belt surrounding it, and Estonia's second city, Tartu, and its environs, Statistics Estonia says.

Building permits were granted for the construction of 1,869 dwellings, a 2 percent rise on year, with apartment houses making up the largest component of these.

286 non-residential buildings were finished, mainly trade, storage and industrial premises, covering a utilizable floor area of 306,002 square meters. Both of these figures were up on Q2 2019.

Register of Construction Works data shows 2,177 dwellings were completed, nearly a fifth more than the year before.

Construction by Estonian firms outside Estonia was almost halved, however, between the end of Q2 2019 and the end of Q2 2020, with both building and civil engineering affected.

In Q2 2019 construction in foreign countries worldwide made up 9 percent of Estonian firms' total work, compared with 5 percent in Q2 2020.

More detailed data is here.

--

Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!