Category Archives: Building Plans

The City of Windhoek approved 98 building plans in December, which is a 62.7% m/m decline from the 263 building plans approved in November and 14.8% y/y lower than the 115 approvals in December 2020. In value terms, approvals fell by 46.2% m/m to N$116.6 million. A total of 63 building plans worth N$317.3 million were completed during the month, representing an increase of 23.5% y/y in terms of number and 891.2% y/y in terms of value of completions. A total of 2,451 building plans were approved in 2021, 169 more than in 2020. In value terms, total approvals for the year rose by 5.9% y/y to N$1.96 billion.

Additions to properties once again made up the majority of building plans approved in 2021. Of the 2,451 building plans approved in 2021, additions accounted for 1,574 of these approvals, 27 fewer than in 2020. In value terms, approvals of additions for the year increased by N$55.5 million or 8.0% y/y. 2021 was the first year that the value of additions to properties recorded an increase on an annual basis, following three years of decline. 63 additions were approved in December, 122 fewer than in November and 66.2% lower in value terms at N$36.5 million. During the year 870 additions have been completed to a value of N$237.4 million, a drop of 1.8% y/y in number and 47.7% y/y in value terms.

New residential units were the second largest contributor to the total number of building plans approved with 840 approvals registered in 2021, 200 more than in 2020. In value terms, new residential units approved increased from N$823.5 million in 2020 to N$1.04 billion in 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the number of new residential approvals decreased by 57.3% to 32, while the value of approvals declined by 34.5% to N$69.1 million. 45 Residential units valued at N$38.7 million were completed in December bringing 2021’s total number to 611, down 15.1% y/y. The value of residential completions fell to N$562.5 million, down 46.1% y/y.

A total of 37 commercial and industrial units were approved in 2021 compared to the 41 in 2020. In value terms, commercial and industrial approvals fell by 48.2% y/y in 2021 to N$171.4 million. 3 New commercial units valued at N$11.1 million were approved in December. 3 Commercial and industrial buildings were completed during the month, bringing the year’s total to 10, two fewer than in 2020. In value terms, N$313.9 million worth of commercial and industrial units were completed in 2021, representing an increase of 690.3% y/y, although the increase is mostly driven by the N$250.0 million completion of Nedbank’s new headquarters in December.

The number of building plans approved in 2021 rose by 7.4% compared to 2020, but the cumulative number of plans remains down 28.0% from its peak in 2013. The cumulative value of approvals increased by 5.9% y/y to N$1.96 billion in 2021 and is down 24.8% from the peak in 2013 in nominal terms. Building plans approved is a leading indicator of economic activity in the country and the above data implies that the Namibian economy has shown some recovery in 2021 following the Covid-19 slump, it is still showing signs of hardship. The low number of commercial building plan approvals in 2021 is another sign of this and indicate that most businesses are not planning on expanding their existing operations.

In November the City of Windhoek approved 263 building plans, a 3.0% m/m decrease from the 271 approved in October. The total value of approvals decreased by 2.1% m/m to N$216.9 million. On a 12-month cumulative basis, the number of approvals has risen by 9.3% y/y to 2,468 but the value of these approvals has declined by 1.1% y/y to N$1.92 billion. Year-to-date there have been 2,353 approvals valued at N$1.85 billion. 139 construction projects were completed in November at a value of N$99.9 million. In terms of value, this equates to a 147.1% y/y increase and a 71.0% m/m increase. However, on a 12-month cumulative basis the value of completed projects is down 46.3% y/y.  

185 additions to properties were approved at a value of N$107.9 million in November, making November the best month, in terms of value, for addition approvals in 2021. This represents a 12.1% y/y increase in number and 13.5% y/y increase in value. Month-on-month this translates to a 7.5% decrease in number but a 37.9% increase in value. 47 additions to properties were completed in November at a value of N$11.1 million. The latter months of 2020 saw a particularly slow rate of construction completions, therefore the year-on-year change in the value of additions completed has doubled (approximately 101.1% y/y increase in value). On a year-to-date basis, the number of additions to properties completed stands at 855, at a value of N$233.8 million. While the number of additions completed by this time last year is similar (866 by November 2020) the value of those additions stood significantly higher, at N$444.8 million.   

75 residential units were approved in November at a value of N$105.5 million, translating to an 8.7% m/m increase in number and a 29.6% m/m increase in value. Year-to-date 808 units have been approved at a value of N$968.8 million. These numbers compare favourably to last November’s year-to-date figures when only 610 residential units were approved at a value of N$798.2 million. Accordingly, on a 12-month cumulative basis, the value of residential approvals increased by 9.3% y/y and the number of approvals by 7.9% y/y. 90 residential units were completed in November at a value of N$70.8 million, making November the best month for the number of residential unit completions in 2021. On a 12-month cumulative basis the number of residential properties completed now stands at 596, with a collective value of N$540.6 million. Following the trend seen in completions of additions to properties, the 12-month cumulative value figure for residential units completed has fallen by 46.3% y/y.

In November three commercial units with a combined value of N$3.5 million were approved. Year-to-date 34 commercial units worth N$160.3 million have been approved. In terms of value, that’s 47.4% lower than at the same time last year. Two commercial units were completed in November at a value of N$18.1 million. After six consecutive months with zero completions Windhoek has now seen back-to-back months with commercial completions, the first time that has happened in 2021. Encouragingly, this means that the year-to-date value of commercial construction projects completed is higher now than it was at the same time in 2020.

On a 12-month cumulative basis, the number of building plans completed fell by 8.3% y/y and by 46.3% y/y in terms of value. Given the severity of the general economic contraction in the past 18 months this is not surprising. The year-on-year change of the 12-month cumulative value of plans completed is therefore likely to remain negative for several more months.

As the year draws to a close, we now have a sufficiently detailed picture of how well the construction industry faired in 2021. In a phrase, 2021 was not all that bad. The year-to-date figure for total building plan approvals stands at N$1.85 billion, that’s a 3.9% y/y increase from the N$1.78 billion approved by last November. The success and rate with which these approvals are converted into completions will go a long way to determining the fortunes of the construction sector in 2022.  While the year-to-date value of total building completions remains well off 2020 levels, in the context of the last five years the figure (N$796.5 million y-t-d completions by November 2021) doesn’t look out of place (5-year November average; N$913.8 million).   

In October the City of Windhoek approved 271 building plans, an 18.9% m/m increase from the 228 approved in September. The total value of approvals increased by 40.2% m/m to N$221.7 million. Year-to-date there have been 2,090 approvals, valued at N$1.63 billion. This year-to-date figure is only 5.8% higher in value terms than at the same time last year. With only two months left in the year it is likely that the value of building plans approved in 2021 will be similar to that of 2020. On a 12-month cumulative basis, the number of approvals rose by 13.9% y/y to 2,476 while the value of these approvals rose by 6.1% y/y to N$1.94 billion. 86 construction projects were completed in October at a value of N$58.4 million. Year-on-year this equates to a 32.2% increase in number and 6.54% increase in value. Given that September saw yearly highs in both the number and value of projects completed the month-on-month changes in completions come in at a somewhat distorted 63.2% decrease in number and 51.4% decrease in value. On a 12-month cumulative basis the value of completed projects is down 55.7% y/y.

200 additions to properties were approved at a value of N$78.3 million, a 39.9% m/m increase in number and 22.0% m/m increase in value from September. Year-to-date, 1,326 additions have been approved at a value of N$608.5 million. Broadly consistent with 2020’s figures, this represents a 1.9% y/y decrease in number and 5.2% y/y increase in value from the same time last year. 43 additions were completed in October at a value of N$10.43 million. Given the large variance in both the number and value of additions completed over the last 24 months there is not much insight to be gained from looking at the month-on-month and year-on-year changes in the number and value of additions completed, suffice to say that October was a marginally below (pandemic-era) average month for addition completions.

69 new residential units were approved in October at a value of N$81.4 million. This represents a 14.8% m/m decrease in number and 6.3% m/m decrease in value from September’s figures. Year-to-date, 733 units have been approved at a value of N$863.2 million. This represents a year-to-date increase in the number and value of residential units by 44.9% y/y and 29.6% y/y respectively. On a 12-month cumulative basis, the number of residential units approved increased by 59.1% y/y and 24.9% y/y in value.  41 new residential units were completed in October at a value of N$32.6 million. This translates to a 12.8% y/y decrease in number and 17.0% y/y decrease in value. Additionally, October’s completion figures equate to a 43.1% m/m decrease in number and 56.8% m/m decrease in value. On a 12-month cumulative basis, the number of residential properties completed stands 557, at a value of N$504.8 million. This represents a 12-month cumulative decrease in value of 52.0% y/y.

In October two commercial units, with a combined value of N$62.0 million, were approved. In terms of value, this was the best month for approvals of commercial construction projects in 2021. So, while year-to-date the number of commercial projects approved increased by only two, from 29 in September to 31 in October, the year-to-date value of commercial approvals increased by a much more substantial 65.4%, from N$94.8 million to N$156.8 million. A streak of six consecutive months with zero commercial building project completions was finally snapped in October as two commercial projects were completed at a value of N$15.35 million. In terms of value, October was the best month for commercial construction project completions in just over two years.

On a 12-month cumulative basis, the number of building plans completed fell by 22.5% y/y and 55.7% y/y in terms of value. The year-on-year change of the 12-month cumulative value of plans completed will likely, as alluded to in previous reports, remain negative for several more months as the effects of the pandemic and past lockdowns continue to weight on the figure.

12-month cumulative approvals are up 13.9% y/y in number and 6.1% y/y in value. While this doesn’t read as a resounding comeback story for the construction industry, it does at least show that the flow of approvals remains consistent.