One of the most reliable thermometers in the construction sector is the sale of cement: when concrete flows, cranes advance.
During the first six months of 2026, cement sales in Lanzarote have soared by 31.2% year-on-year, according to the latest Wholesale Cement Sales Statistics published by the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC).
A volume that places the island at the head of the archipelago — only behind El Hierro (+48%). The increase recorded on the island contrasts sharply with the archipelago's average.
In the Canary Islands as a whole, 316,001 tons of cement were marketed between January and June, representing a global increase of 7.8% compared to the same period last year.
The intensity with which Lanzarote is absorbing construction materials triples the regional figure, and is driven, in addition to new hotels being built, by the slow but gradual rise in housing construction to escape the housing collapse and the reactivation of key items of official tendering.
This rebound in the consumption of direct materials is not isolated. When crossing the figures with the data on building permits managed by ISTAC itself, it is observed that the start of residential projects on the island is going through its most active period since the pre-pandemic period.
Compared to the regional increase of 74.5% in housing permits at the start of the year in the Canary Islands, in the specific case of Lanzarote the number of building permits decreased between 2024 and 2025, going from a total of 323 to 273, but the projects permitted in Lanzarote in the last year are larger-scale projects.
The total projected budget on the island rose from 95.7 million euros in 2024 to 134.9 million euros in 2025, which is equivalent to an increase of 41% in the budget permitted in Lanzarote, marking its historical maximum since 2007.
Furthermore, the total area permitted for construction in Lanzarote grew by 18.8%, from 163,000 square meters to approximately 194,000.
Added to the permits is the boost from public works. Official tendering in the archipelago approached 400 million euros in the first quarter of the year — 44% more than in 2025 — an impulse that in Lanzarote translates into the execution of urgent infrastructure.
Among these are the renovation of hydraulic pipelines by the Water Consortium and the implementation of various urban and road facilities in the main municipalities of the island.
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