CHAMWE KAIRA
A single N$200 million commercial building approval in central Windhoek accounted for more than half of the capital’s approved building plan value in September, masking a decline in underlying construction activity, according to Simonis Storm’s latest Namibia Building Statistics report.
Building plan approvals in Windhoek and Swakopmund reached 284 in September, with a combined value of N$462.5 million, representing a 57.5% increase in value compared with the same month last year.
However, the number of approved plans declined by 8.7% year-on-year, indicating that the increase in value was driven by larger projects rather than broader growth in construction activity.
Third-quarter approvals reached N$1.18 billion, the strongest quarterly performance since early 2025, the report shows.
In Windhoek, 218 building plans worth N$365.4 million were approved in September, the highest monthly value recorded in the capital this year.
But excluding the N$200 million commercial project, the value of approved plans in Windhoek fell by 13.2% year-on-year.
Simonis Storm also highlighted delays in the city’s building plan approval process, with the median approval time reaching 63 days. More than three-quarters of submissions take longer than a month to be approved.
The report identifies the backlog as a constraint on construction activity, while completions in Windhoek have declined by 41.0% year-to-date.
Swakopmund, meanwhile, recorded stronger growth across several construction indicators. The coastal town approved 66 building plans worth N$97.1 million in September.
Although monthly approvals eased, 93 new plan applications valued at N$226.9 million were submitted over a recent four-week period, pointing to a substantial pipeline of potential developments.
Year-to-date, the number of approved plans in Swakopmund increased by 10.0%, while their combined value rose by 36.4%. Building completions increased by 57.7%, according to the report.
The contrasting performances point to different trends in Namibia’s two main urban construction markets, with Windhoek experiencing declining completions while Swakopmund records growth in both approved building values and completed projects.
The report also links coastal property demand to anticipated energy investments, including TotalEnergies’ Venus oil project and Hyphen’s green hydrogen development.
Erongo interior farmland asking prices reached a median of N$5528 per hectare, according to the report, reflecting increased demand for property in the region.
Construction companies are also facing higher operating costs as the industry enters the final quarter of the year.
Industry wages increased by 5% on 1 September, while fuel prices were 30.4% higher year-on-year.
Windhoek also introduced a heavy-vehicle permit system on 1 October for trucks weighing nine tonnes or more.
Simonis Storm notes that contractors operating under fixed-price agreements may struggle to pass higher costs on to clients, putting pressure on profit margins.
Financing conditions are another constraint. Household mortgage credit grew by 2.1% year-on-year, below the inflation rate of 5.4%, indicating that mortgage lending growth remained negative in real terms.
Simonis Storm expects the Bank of Namibia to increase the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7% later this month. Such an increase would raise borrowing costs and could further constrain demand for property development.
