New housing construction costs rose by 1.8% year-on-year, 0.6 percentage points less than in November (2.4%).
In December 2023, construction costs for new housing increased by 1.8% year-on-year, 0.6 percentage points (p.p.) less than in the previous month (2.4%). Material prices fell by -2.2% (-1.7% in the previous month) and labor costs rose by 7.5%, 0.7 p.p. less than in November. These are provisional figures released this Friday (February 9, 2024) by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
“The cost of labor contributed 3.1 p.p. (3.4 p.p. in the previous month) to the year-on-year rate of change in the Construction Cost Index for New Housing (ICCHN) and materials -1.3 p.p. (-1.0 p.p. in November),” concludes the institute.
According to INE, among the materials that most negatively influenced the aggregate price variation were coatings, insulation and waterproofing, which fell by around 20%, steel for concrete and heavy and light profiled and mild and galvanized steel sheet, with a reduction of around 15%, and the consumption of energy products, with a decrease of around 10%.
“In the opposite direction, ready-mixed concrete and sanitary ware stood out with year-on-year growth of around 10% and cement, paints, primers, undercoats and varnishes with around 5%,” says the national statistics office.
As far as the chain variation is concerned, the ICCHN’s monthly variation rate was -0.6% in December, 1.7 p.p. lower than in November, with the cost of materials falling by 0.8% and labor by 0.4%.
As for the average annual change in the ICCHN, it was 3.9% in 2023 (average change of 12.2% in the previous year). “The materials and labor indices recorded average annual increases of 0.9% and 8.1%, respectively (16.7% and 6.3% in 2022, in the same order),” concludes INE.
