On the domestic market alone, construction volumes fell 10 percent, the agency says. However, the actual number of residential and non-residential buildings erected, and building permits issued, actually rose on year to Q3 2020, Statistics Estonia says.

Statistics Estonia says construction enterprises' production value totalled €817 million, compared with €518 million in actual building work and €299 million in civil engineering projects, in Q3 2020.

Building construction fell 13 percent on year to Q3 2020 and civil engineering output also fell over that period, by 10 percent, Statistics Estonia says.

Statistics Estonia: Fall in number of new builds

The change was most influenced by a fall in new builds construction, lead analyst and Statistics Estonia Merike Sinisaar says.

Sinisaar said: "The volume of civil engineering, which was on the rise in the first half of the year, also took a downturn in the third quarter. The main reason was the decrease in repair and reconstruction works."

Construction volume of Estonian enterprises engaged in that sphere in foreign countries fell by almost a third year on year to Q3 2020, with a fall in both building construction and civil engineering works over that time.

Despite the decline in construction volumes, a total of 1,900 dwellings were finished in the quarter, according to data in the Register of Construction Works, a rise of a little under 10 percent on year, the agency says.

The bulk of these perhaps in Tallinn unsurprisingly were erected in the most populous regions of the country: The capital, Tallinn, the Tallinn commuter belt, and in Tartu, Estonia's second city, and Tartu County as a whole.

Building permits were granted for the construction of 3,338 dwellings, a 33 percent rise on year, Statistics Estonia says. The commonest type of residential building were as ever apartment complexes, the agency says.

Naturally, the construction of buildings finished in Q3 2020 is likely to have started earlier in the year, or even in the previous year or years, which may in part explain the discrepancy between a downturn in construction volumes and rise in completed projects.

Statistics Estonia says 316 non-residential buildings were completed, comprising a "useful" floor area of 186,000 sq. m. Both of these figures represented a rise on year to Q3 2020.

These new builds primarily constituted new storage, educational and industrial premises.

More detailed data is here.

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