The value of South African recorded building plans passed at constant 2000 prices in July decreased by 6.0% year-on-year (y/y) from a revised 1.3% y/y (1.4%) dip in June, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) data on Wednesday showed.

This is the highest decrease since a dip of 5.1% was recorded in December last year.

Residential building plans came off by 4.3% y/y - the second time they have registered a decrease since February. The June decrease of 6.5% in this category was the largest decrease of the year with the next highest the -4.5% recorded in January.

Non-residential building plans resumed their previous losing streak to move down by 18.5% y/y after moving up by 28% in June.

The value and percentage of buildings reported as completed rose at a healthier 19.9% from the revised 3.2% (3.4% y/y) at constant prices in June.

Completions of non-residential buildings reached a new record of 150.2% growth y/y in July. The previous record was the 120.6% y/y growth recorded in April.

Residential building completions were up just 1.4% in July from the revised 0.9% (1.0% y/y) in May.

The value of recorded building plans passed by larger municipalities (at constant 2000 prices) during the first seven months of 2007 increased by 1.3% (345.8 million rand) compared with the first seven months of 2006, slowing from the 2.7% increase for the comparison of the first six months of 2007. Increases were reported for residential buildings (2.9% or 429.7 million rand) and additions and alterations (0.0% or 0.9 million rand). A decrease was reported for non-residential buildings (-1.6% or -84.8 million rand) for the same period.

The seasonally adjusted real value of recorded building plans passed by larger municipalities during the three months ending July 2007 decreased by 2.5% compared with the previous three months, mainly due to a decrease reported for residential building plans passed (-8.5%). This decrease was partially counteracted by increases reported for non-residential buildings (9.6%) and additions and alterations (3.1%).

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