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Economy & Business

Building plans passed in South Africa: value by province and type of building

The value of building plans passed by larger municipalities each month since January 2000, for South Africa and each of the nine provinces. Plans passed are an early indicator of construction: they show what has been approved to be built before work starts. The value is broken down by type of building (houses smaller than 80 square metres and 80 square metres or more, flats and townhouses, office and banking space, shopping space, industrial and warehouse space, and additions and alterations), so you can see where new housing is planned and which provinces are attracting commercial and industrial development. Values are in rands at current prices, not adjusted for inflation.

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The data

3,200 rows, 18 columns.

year Year
Year of the data 2000 – 2026
month Number
Month of the data (1–12) 1 – 12
year_month Date
Year and month of the data as YYYY-MM-DD. The day (01) is a placeholder. 2000-01-01 – 2026-08-01
geography Category
South Africa (the national total) or the province. The nine provincial rows for a month add up to the South Africa row. South Africa, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo
total Number
Value of building plans passed for all buildings (residential, non-residential, and additions and alterations), in rands at current prices 0 – 12307680000
residential_total Number
Value of building plans passed for all residential buildings, in rands at current prices 0 – 6990891000
houses_under_80m2 Number
Value of building plans passed for dwelling-houses smaller than 80 square metres, in rands at current prices 0 – 803850000
houses_80m2_plus Number
Value of building plans passed for dwelling-houses of 80 square metres or more, in rands at current prices 0 – 3717174000
flats_townhouses Number
Value of building plans passed for flats and townhouses, in rands at current prices 0 – 4414492000
other_residential Number
Value of building plans passed for other residential buildings, in rands at current prices 0 – 1253280000
non_residential_total Number
Value of building plans passed for all non-residential buildings, in rands at current prices 0 – 4815728000
offices_banks Number
Value of building plans passed for office and banking space, in rands at current prices 0 – 1978237000
shopping Number
Value of building plans passed for shopping space, in rands at current prices 0 – 3659157000
industrial_warehouses Number
Value of building plans passed for industrial and warehouse space, in rands at current prices 0 – 2524974000
other_non_residential Number
Value of building plans passed for other non-residential buildings, in rands at current prices 0 – 978243000
additions_alterations_total Number
Value of building plans passed for all additions and alterations, in rands at current prices 0 – 3626575000
additions_alterations_houses Number
Value of building plans passed for additions and alterations to dwelling-houses, in rands at current prices 0 – 2391834000
additions_alterations_other Number
Value of building plans passed for additions and alterations to other buildings, in rands at current prices 0 – 2456303000

Latest rows

yearmonthyear_monthgeographytotalresidential_totalhouses_under_80m2houses_80m2_plusflats_townhousesother_residentialnon_residential_totaloffices_banksshoppingindustrial_warehousesother_non_residentialadditions_alterations_totaladditions_alterations_housesadditions_alterations_other
202682026-08-01Limpopo1570900001171530003752000747390003866200007534000000753400032403000243870008016000
202682026-08-01Mpumalanga2881610001821400003512000173347000528100001481700000014817000912040003823800052966000
202682026-08-01Gauteng291080100011716050005020600059669600052470300001119718000336700068623700033666600093448000619478000450615000168863000
202682026-08-01North West2720100001200250001002000905700002845300002392500009579000889900054470001280600005681700071243000
202682026-08-01KwaZulu-Natal10732840004927750004290000335965000152520000021248200044231000391700009687100032210000368027000263624000104403000
202682026-08-01Free State12709500010233800014449000870000008890000203800047300015650000022719000204490002270000
202682026-08-01Northern Cape122257000271450000262130000932000758850000075885000019227000114580007769000
202682026-08-01Eastern Cape46930900013946900050350009569300038741000086554000551150002929400002145000243286000115213000128073000
202682026-08-01Western Cape3485925000174870000012408300082560000077841800020599000439617000072522000271884000952110001297608000685188000612420000
202682026-08-01South Africa8905932000410135000020632900023058230001567667000215310001982570000103186000838367000790205000250812000282201200016659890001156023000
202672026-07-01Limpopo182549000112427000195500091181000141960005095000100200000070680002952000601020003634700023755000
202672026-07-01Mpumalanga408142000219336000867900018740500010110002224100077487000163360003008000576410005020001113190001090800002239000
Download all 3,200 rows: CSV JSON

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