Argentina - Building Permits

For Argentina, construction permits. The total includes new construction and expansions, for residential and non-residential buildings. Monthly from 1991.

Active:

• Sample size: 246 munis
• Measurement: Square meters (m2)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
• Native frequency: Monthly
• Start date, as reported: 2021m1
• Start date, as extended: 1991m1
• Geo coverage: Country

Predecessors:

• Sample size 176 munis - 2021m1 to 2024m12 ("_24")
• Monthly, area, national - 2016m1 to 2021m12 ("_21")
• Monthly, area, national - 1991m1 to 2018m5 ("_18")
• Quarterly, count, subnational - 1997Q1 to 2004Q4
• Annual, count, national - 1997 to 2014

Permit: Refers to the case or administrative process through which approval is sought for the erection of the building. Generally, each is entitled to a work permit, so this variable largely reflects the number of works that are licensed.

Municipalities considered in the survey: The list of the 188 municipalities included in the survey of Building Permits is based on these criteria:

• Municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants according to the Census of Population and Housing 1991.
• Provincial capitals.
• Municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants (according to the 1991 Population Census) that are integrated into larger agglomerates.
• Municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants (according to the Population Census 1991), of particular interest from the standpoint of building complex.

The complete list can be found in Table 1 of each file available in the Historical Series of Building Permits. It is also listed in each edition, under "Building permits: Names of municipalities."

Changes to survey sample

The 2016-2021 vintage had a scope of 60 municipalities.

The 2021-2025 vintage had a scope of 176 municipalities.

The 2025-present vintage has a scope of 246 municipalities.

Moody's Analytics supplements

For the monthly "authorized surface" metric, we back-extend using the predecessors, and construct a seasonally adjusted counterpart.

Yes.

The size of the sample is subject to change, i.e., the number of municipalities in the survey.

Further reading

At the source:

• Permisos de edificación
• Características generales de la serie Permisos de Edificación
• Metodología del indicador sintético de la actividad de la construcción (ISAC) y otros indicadores de coyuntura de la actividad de la construcción (pdf, Aug 2018)
• Informes técnicos, Vol. 9, n° 104 / Construcción, Vol. 9, n° 5 / Indicadores de coyuntura de la actividad de la construcción (pdf) » Permisos de edificación: nómina de municipios 

• Dec 2011 - Initial version.
• Sep 2018 - Change in scope of survey sample.
• Aug 2022 - Change in scope of survey sample.
• 12 May 2025, Phillip Thorne - Change in scope of survey sample: Properties, Further reading.