Activity in Bulgaria’s construction sector is picking up, official figures showed on Monday.

Municipal authorities have issued 1,154 permits for the construction of residential buildings comprising a total of 4 670 dwellings in the third quarter, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) announced.

Compared with the prior quarter, the number of issued construction permits was 1.2% higher, while the number of dwellings in the future buildings has increased by 35.2%.

The gross built-up area of residential buildings, for which construction permits were issued in the third quarter, has increased by 27.5% compared with the second quarter, reaching 654,082 square meters.

Compared with the third quarter of 2014, the number of issued construction permits for new residential buildings has increased by 11.1% in the period July-September of 2015, the number of dwellings in them by 35.8% and the gross built-up area - by 47.4%.

Permits for the construction of 40 office buildings were also issued in the third quarter of 2015, down 9.1% compared with the prior quarter. The gross built-up area of those future buildings, however, has increased sharply, by 218%    

The third quarter of 2015 also saw the launch of the construction of 741 residential buildings (up 23.5%, year-on-year) with a total of 3,006 dwellings (up 75.3%) and 446,375 sq.m. of gross built-up area, an increase of 103% compared with the same period of 2014.

The NSI also reported a rise in the number of construction starts of office buildings as well as an increase of the total built-up area.

 The construction of 25 office buildings with a total of 51,410 sq.m. of gross built-up area was launched in the third quarter, an year-on-year increase of 13.6% and 139.4%, respectively.