South Africa Building Permits

Last Release

Feb 28, 2025

Actual

8,190,868

Units In

ZAR Thousand

6,234,921

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

May 22, 2025

Time to Release

1 Months 2 Days 10 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
12,307,680 Jun 2023	218,553 Dec 1985	4,113,100.46 ZAR Thousand	1981-2025	Statistics South Africa

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) conducts a monthly building statistics survey collecting information regarding building plans passed and buildings completed, financed by the private sector, from the largest local government institutions in South Africa. According to these institutions, they are not always notified about low-cost housing projects and therefore do not include the bulk of low-cost dwelling-houses. The monthly survey represents approximately 90 percent of the total value of buildings completed. The statistical unit for the collection of information is a local government institution. Local government institutions include district municipalities, metropolitan municipalities and local municipalities.

Latest Updates

The value of building plans approved in South Africa's larger municipalities declined by 9% year-on-year to ZAR 8.2 billion in February 2025, following a revised 33.2% surge in the previous month. This marks the first decrease since November 2024 and the largest in eight months, driven by a 32% drop in residential building permits (vs 19.7% in January). Meanwhile, non-residential building permits increased by 40.6% (vs 83.7%), and additions and alteration rose by 4.8% (vs 35.3%).