In the 4th quarter of 2025, building permits in Portugal decreased by 14.2% compared with the same period of the previous year, totalling 5.8 thousand buildings. This indicates a sharper decline than that recorded in the 3rd quarter (-2.6%). Building permits for new construction decreased by 11.4% (after -1.8% in the 3rd quarter), while permits for renovation works fell by 22.0%, reinforcing the decrease observed in the previous quarter (-1.8%).
In the same period, an estimated 4.1 thousand buildings were completed, corresponding to a year-on-year decrease of 4.2%, less pronounced than that recorded in the 3rd quarter (-5.1%).
In the residential sector, the number of dwellings licensed in new construction increased by 16.0%, above the growth of 8.9% observed in the previous quarter. The number of completed dwellings increased by 3.6%, following the 8.7% increase recorded in the 3rd quarter.
Compared with the previous quarter, the number of building permits issued decreased by 8.6%, while the number of completed buildings increased by 2.3%.
For the whole year of 2025, preliminary data on building permits indicate an increase of 2.3% in the number of buildings, while estimates for works completions indicate a decrease of 8.8% compared with 2024.
