Spain: Housing permits decline at sharpest rate in over a decade in April
The Spanish Board of Architects approved 3,872 new construction permits in April, according to data published by the Ministry of Public Works. The figure was well below the 9,708 permits granted in April 2019 and the 6,095 permits granted in March. On an annual basis, permits plummeted 60.1% in April, following March’s 35.2% plunge and marking the steepest decline since the heights of the 2009 global financial crisis.
Meanwhile, the moving three-month sum of permits totaled 19,053 in April, which represented a 32.6% drop from the same period in 2019 and followed the 15.5% fall recorded in March. The current number of permits represents a mere fraction of the 268,266 permits granted during the July–September 2006 peak amid a booming housing market in the leadup to the Great Recession.