Construction firms’ total production fell by 8% YoY in April-June, state agency Statistics Estonia reported. At the same time, the volume of residential buildings completed rose.
The figures include construction by Estonian companies abroad, taking the home market alone, construction volume fell by 5%, Statistics Estonia said.
The production value for construction enterprises totaled EUR 743 million; EUR 503 million of this was made up of building work, which fell by 12%, and EUR 240 million on civil engineering work – roads, bridges, port facilities, pipelines and other projects – which actually rose by 2%.
Merike Sinisaar, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said the domestic construction market was affected the most by a decrease of almost 10% 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.
Building permits were granted for the construction of 1,869 dwellings, up by 2%, 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% of Estonian firms’ total work compared with 5% in Q2 2020. (ERR/Business World Magazine)