The real value of building plans completed rose by 21.3% year-on-year (y/y) to 1.032 billion constant 2000 rand  after rising by 41.8% y/y in December, Statistics South Africa has reported.

The real value of building plans completed in 2004 rose by 22.5% y/y to 16.911 billion constant 2000 rand after rising by only 5.6% y/y in the first eight months.

The seasonally adjusted real value of buildings reported as completed with municipalities for the three months ended January 2005 increased by 9.2% compared with the previous three months.

The increase of 9.2% was due to increases in the seasonally adjusted real value of residential buildings (+30.0%) and additions and alterations (+6.3%).

However, a decrease of 35.3% was reported for non-residential buildings.

The real value of building plans completed in November 2004 more than doubled - up 103.1% y/y- to 2.4095 billion constant 2000 rand after the Sibaya hotel and casino were completed in Durban, but the y/y growth moderated to 41.8% y/y in December.

The largest increase in 2004 was reported for residential buildings (up 33.7% to 11.004 billion constant 2000 rand), followed by non-residential buildings (up 6.2% to 2.927 billion constant 2000 rand) and additions and alterations (up 5.8% to 2.98 billion constant 2000 rand). The trend series has been rising since October 2003.

Cement sales in South Africa rose by 26.1% y/y to a record 1,103,317 tons in November 2004, but then eased to a 7.8% y/y increase to 724,051 tons in December 2004 with a further easing to a 7.1% y/y increase to 605,290 tons in January 2005.

The slow demand in December and January due to builders' holidays allowed the cement producers to restock their inventories ahead of the return of normal demand from February onwards. In February cement sales increased by 12.1% y/y to 862,252 tons.

Cement sales in South Africa rose by 17.4% in 2004 to a record 10.69 million tons compared with a 7.0% rise in 2003.

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