New dwellings take longer to complete

In 2001 some 73 thousand new dwellings were completed. This is slightly more than in 2000, but considerably less that in the late nineties. In 1995, for instance, almost 94 thousand new dwellings were finished. The decrease is partly due to the fact that new dwellings are taking longer to complete.

Newly completed dwellings

Completion time increasing

The average completion time, that is the time between issuing the building permit and the dwelling is finished, greatly increased compared to 1995. In 2001 there was an average of 22 months between issuing the building permit and recording completion. In 1995 the average was 16 months.

Dwellings completed within the year

Over 15% of the dwellings completed in 2001 was finished within a year of issuing the building permit. This is half the percentage of 1995, when the share was 31%.

Time between issuing the building permit and completing the dwelling

One third takes more than two years

An increasing number of new dwellings take more than a year to complete. The permits for 34% of the dwellings newly completed in 2001 had been issued over 2 years previous. In 1995 that was only the case in 7% of the newly completed dwellings.

Cees Steijn