The Department of General Statistics issued its monthly report on urban activity and building permits in the Kingdom, where the total areas of licensed buildings reached 904 thousand square meters during April of the current year, compared to 860 thousand square meters for the same period last year, an increase of 5.1%.
The total area of buildings that were licensed during the first third of 2026 amounted to 3.177 million square meters, compared to 3.032 million square meters for the same period in 2025, an increase of 4.8%. The total number of building permits issued in the Kingdom reached 8,317 permits during the first third of 2026, compared to 7,253 permits during the same period in 2025, an increase of 14.7%.
In terms of licensing purposes, the areas licensed for residential purposes amounted to about 2,700 million square meters during the first third of 2026, compared to 2,243 million square meters during the same period last year, an increase of 20.4%, while the area of buildings licensed for non-residential purposes reached 477 thousand square meters, compared to 789 thousand square meters during the same period last year, a decrease of (39.5%).
The area of buildings licensed for residential purposes constituted 85% of the total area of licensed buildings, and 15% for non-residential purposes.
At the regional level, the Central Region accounted for 71.7% of the total licensed building area in the Kingdom during the first third of 2026, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the same period in 2025, while the North Region’s share amounted to 22.2%, an increase of (2.6) percentage points, and the South Region amounted to 6.1%, a decrease of (2.3) percentage points from the same period in 2025.
As for the relative distribution of licensed spaces for residential purposes according to governorates and population, the Capital Governorate recorded the highest percentage, reaching 15.2%, with an area of 0.324 m2 per capita, while Zarqa Governorate recorded the lowest percentage of the per capita share of new licensed spaces, reaching 2.7%, with an area of 0.057 m2 per capita.
The licensed area for new buildings and additions to existing buildings represented 53.7% of the total licensed building area during the first third of 2026, while the licensed area for existing buildings represented 46.3%. An existing building is one that was built years ago without a license, and the license was issued during the month in which the data was collected. As for adding to an existing building, it is issuing a license to create a new addition to an existing, licensed building.
The total licensed building area for new buildings and additions to existing buildings was about 1.705 million square metres, compared to about 1.967 million square meters during the same period in 2025, a decrease of 13.3%.
The Department of General Statistics, through the monthly census of building permits, provides data on the number of building permits, the area of licensed buildings, and the types of building uses in the Kingdom by governorate, with the aim of providing planners, policy makers, and decision makers with indicators about an important part of the construction sector, which is urban activity, while government spending on building projects, roads, infrastructure, and others represents the other part that complements this sector and is covered through other surveys, with the exception of government projects that are licensed by the license-granting bodies, as they are included in This census.
Building permit indicators reflect the actual reality of urban activity because the permit most likely means the actual commencement of construction, while the design contracts and engineering plans that other parties rely on represent future plans for urban activity and a stage of licensing that may not be completed.
