In the 4th quarter 2015, building permits declined by 4.0% in comparison with the same period of the previous year (-6.4% in the 3rd quarter 2015), totaling 3.6 thousand buildings. There was a 5.7% increase in building permits for new constructions (+1.8% in the 3rd quarter 2015) while the number of rehabilitation permits declined by 16.2% (-21.0% in the 3rd quarter 2015). Completed buildings recorded a 24.4% decline (-24.8% in the 3rd quarter 2015) with a total of 2.6 thousand buildings.
When compared with the previous quarter, the number of building permits increased by 3.4% (-5.0% in the 3rd quarter 2015) and the number of completed buildings declined by 6.0% (-3.0% in the 3rd quarter 2015).
In 2015, the number of building permits issued in Portugal reached 14.8 thousand and completed buildings settled at 11.5 thousand, which corresponded to decreases of 4.4% and 22.6% respectively, vis-à-vis 2014 (-5.5% and -31.1% in 2014).