The total surface area foreseen for new constructions in the first quarter of the year totaled 377,061 m², marking an increase of 12.5%, compared to the first quarter of 2025 (335,137 m²), INSTAT reported.

However, these are only the permits issued by Municipalities. The publication of statistics on construction permits is currently based only on data provided by municipalities, which are the main authorities for issuing and reporting these permits.

However, the government decision “On the approval of the territorial development regulation” determines that the process of approving construction permits also includes other responsible institutions, in addition to municipalities.

Since there is still no standardized and complete reporting from all these entities to INSTAT, the data published for the first quarter are based only on municipal sources. INSTAT is working to ensure that all responsible institutions are included in a unified manner in the statistical reporting process.

In the absence of updated data from INSTAT on the area of ??construction permits, which has been reporting for almost a year only local government and not permits from the National Council for Territory and Water (KKTU), this is the most accurate indicator of the expected scale of construction in the country.

The last four meetings of the National Council for Territory and Water have reviewed several hundred requests for construction and development permits, including tourism, residential, public infrastructure, energy and transport projects.

An indirect indicator that measures the momentum of construction permits that continue to be issued in the country is the significant budget incomes from the item "Local Government", the largest part of which consists of the infrastructure impact tax.

Revenues from local government were Lek 26.3 billion for January-April 2026, with an increase of 118%, or Lek 14.2 billion more (about Euro 150 million).