Amman, April 20 (Petra) -- The total number of building permits issued during the first two months of 2026 rose 26 percent to 4,199, compared with 3,329 in the same period last year, according to the Department of Statistics' report issued Monday.

The report showed that the total licensed building area during the same period stood at 1.42 million square meters, compared with 1.52 million square meters in the corresponding period of 2025.

Licensed residential building area reached about 1.27 million square meters, up 13.4 percent from 1.12 million square meters. In contrast, licensed non-residential building area fell 60 percent to 159,000 square meters, compared with 402,000 square meters in the same period of 2025, according to the report.

Residential buildings accounted for 89 percent of the total licensed building area, while non-residential buildings made up 11 percent, it showed.

The central region accounted for the largest share of total licensed building area in the Kingdom during the first two months of the year at 65.9 percent, followed by the northern region at 27.8 percent and the southern region at 6.3 percent, according to the data.

//Petra// AO