Total building permits surged 6.3% MoM and 21.7% YoY in January after a smaller 0.7% MoM increase in December.

• Private sector house permits approved were up 1.1% MoM and 8.9% YoY.
• Excluding houses, private sector permits were up 12.7% MoM and 41.6% YoY.
• The value of total residential building approved rose 4.5% MoM, to $9.04 billion, and the value of non-residential building approved fell 20.7% MoM, to $5.69 billion.