Malta had the highest percentage increase of building permits (in terms of useful floor area) in 2022 over the previous year, Eurostat said.

In 2022, building permits (in terms of useful floor area, measured in millions of square metres; mio m²) went down by almost 5% in the EU to 386.7 mio m² (in absolute terms,  18.1 mio m²). This decrease followed a 15% increase in 2021, reflecting the rebound period in the year after the Covid-19 pandemic peak.  Building permits in terms of useful floor area covers all types of residential buildings (including residences for communities) and non-residential buildings, broken down to offices and other non-residential buildings (covering, for example, hotels, shops, warehouses, industrial buildings, schools and hospitals). 

Compared with 2021, in 2022, building permits (in terms of useful floor area) increased in only 9 EU countries: Malta (+29%), Spain (+28%), Croatia (+21%), Slovenia (+17%), Bulgaria (+12%), Italy (+8%), Hungary (+7%), Portugal (+3%) and France (+2%). In the remaining EU members, the decreases in the number of building permits varied between -28% in Luxembourg and -1% in Romania.

"Between 2015 and 2019, the number of permits went up by almost 6% on average per year. The Covid-19 pandemic interrupted these developments; however, the losses of 2020 were compensated with the increase in 2021. In 2022, although there were decreases in both indicators, the number of permits was still high, remaining above pre-pandemic levels," Eurostat said about the EU in general.

Building permits are also measured by the number of dwellings irrespective of their size. In terms of the number of dwellings, permits also went down by 4% (- 79 100 dwellings) in the EU after an increase of 16% in 2021.