Housing construction in Russia down 7.7% in May, 7.1% in 5 mths
MOSCOW. June 21 (Interfax) - A total of 2.9 million square meters of housing were completed in Russia in May 2011, 7.7% less than in May 2010, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
Housing construction increased only in March, up 13.5% year-on-year. It was down 16.3% in January and 6.4% in February, and 17.9% in April.
A total of 15.3 million square meters of housing were completed in the first five months, 7.1% less than in the same period last year.
A total of 177,300 apartments were added in the five months.
Construction volume totaled 1.302 trillion rubles in January-May, 0.8% more year-on-year, including 330.2 billion rubles in May, 0.8% more.
Housing construction declined 2.4% in 2010, when a total of 58.4 million square meters of housing were completed.