The Construction Costs Index in the A.C. of the Basque Country fell by 0.2% in November 2004 in relation to the previous month, according to EUSTAT data. The inter-annual rate for November came to 7.3%, labour costs rising by 3.8% and raw material costs by 9.0%.

Raw materials fell by 0.3% with regard to the previous month, with a 0.3% drop for Building and 0.6% for Civil Works. The inter-annual evolution of these two subsectors shows, with regard to raw materials consumed, that both followed quite similar trends: raw material costs for Building and for Civil Works increased 9.2% and 8.3%, respectively.

In November the highest growth in prices corresponded to raw materials consumed by Electric energy (4.9%), Office material (1.1%), Glass (0.7%), Metal piping (0.6%) and Lime, plaster and gypsum (0.4%). Prices of raw materials fell, however, for Oil by-products (-8.0%), Asphalt products (-8.0%), Oil and greases (-1.6%) and Iron and steel (-0.7%), among others.

Among the prices of raw materials consumed by the sector that experienced highest inflation rates over the last twelve months were: Metal piping (43.1%), Iron and steel (39.1%), Asphalt products (24.8%), Oil by-products (18.2%) and Articles derived from cement (9.8%), mainly. In addition, there were falls in inter-annual prices (November 2004 in relation to November 2003) for raw materials for Glass (-1.7%), Office material (-1.0%), Electric energy (-0.8%), and Timber and cork (-0.3%).