The total production value of construction enterprises in Q3 was €1.2 billion. Building construction accounted for €706 million of this, while civil engineering amounted to €462 million. When compared to Q3 2022, building construction volumes were down by 10 percent, whereas the volume of civil engineering works (roads, bridges, port facilities, pipelines, communication and electricity lines, sports fields, etc.) rose 4 percent.

Merike Sinisaar, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the Estonian construction market has been on a downward trend since the second quarter of 2022. Sinisaar added that the construction market continues to be affected by rising construction prices, higher interest rates, and declining consumer confidence.

The Estonian domestic construction market was primarily influenced by the decreased volume of building construction. This was mainly due to the decline in the construction of new buildings. In the case of civil engineering, there was an increase in new works, while the volume of repair and reconstruction works remained at the same level as a year ago.

The construction volumes of Estonian construction enterprises operating abroad grew by nearly a third compared to Q3 2022. There were also rises on year in building construction and civil engineering works completed abroad. Construction in foreign countries accounted for 7 percent of the total construction volume, up from 5 percent at the same time a year earlier.

According to the Register of Construction Works, 1,599 new dwellings were completed in Q3, which is 2 percent more than the year before. 40 percent of the completed dwellings are in Tallinn, 28 percent are in rural municipalities in the vicinity of Tallinn, and 16 percent are in Tartu County.

The demand for new dwellings increased slightly in the third quarter. However, due to the modest first half of 2023, the number of building permits issued over the first three quarters of the year was almost 25 percent lower than in the same period last year. Building permits were issued for the construction of 1,555 dwellings in the third quarter of 2023, a 2 percent increase on year. The most popular type of residential building was an apartment block.

The number of newly completed non-residential buildings was 253, with a combined usable floor area of 260,900 meters squared. New storage, industrial, and commercial premises accounted for the largest share of non-residential building constructed. Compared to the third quarter of 2022, there were increases in both the usable floor area and volume of non-residential buildings completed.

More information can be found here and here.

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