A total of 301 building plans to the value of N$142.11m were approved by the City of Windhoek in September 2014. On a year‑to‑date basis (January to September), 2,258 plans were approved compared to 2,484 plans over the same period last year. In value terms, however, plans approved year-to-date are worth N$1,837.1bn compared to N$1,711.1bn for the same period in 2013, up 7.4%. This increase is mostly due to three large commercial projects that were approved by the municipality in February 2014. On a monthly basis, a few more plans were approved in September when compared to August, while the value of plans approved is down 24.9% m/m. The difference in value is mainly because less expensive commercial and industrial projects were approved in September.
Should the year-to-date trend of the value of plans approved be maintained for the remainder of the year (illustrated by the red dashed line in the graph above), 2014 will most likely be equivalent to the record 2012 year. Ignoring monthly volatility, the trend implies that there is an average of N$167m worth of building plans per month, which will match 2012.
In our view, the construction sector will be one of the leading growth and development sectors in the Namibian economy for 2014, with both private sector and government having aggressive development plans. However, many such plans fall out of the Windhoek municipal area, and as such are not captured in the monthly building plan statistics.
See the calendar and releases here