The Construction Costs Index in the A.C. of the Basque Country registered a 0.2% fall in May 2005 in relation to the previous month, giving an inter-annual rate of 5.2% for the month, according to EUSTAT data.

Labour costs in May 2005 remained unchanged (0.0%), whereas raw material costs registered a decrease of 0.2%.

The sub-sectors of Building and Civil Works showed differing evolutions, with a 0.2% fall in raw material costs in relation to the previous month in the area of Building, and one of 0.5% for Civil Works. The pattern of inter-annual evolution for these sub-sectors showed more similarities: raw material costs for Building rose by 5.6% and for Civil Works they grew by 5.0%.

In May the highest price rises were for raw materials consumed in Asphalt Products (6.7%), Electric energy (2.7%), Manual tools (2.5%) and Other metal articles (0.7%), among others. There was a fall, however in the raw material prices of Oil by-products (-4.3%), Explosives and gases (-3.5%), Plastic piping and Heat insulation (-1.6%), Metal piping (-1.0%) and Iron and steel (-0.7%), among others.

Among the raw materials used by the sector to experience the highest rates of inflation over the whole of the twelve-month period were: Asphalt Products (29.8%), Metal piping (15.9%), Iron and steel (13.8%) and Oil by-products (12.1%). On the other hand, there were reductions in the inter-annual prices of raw materials of Glass (-3.5%), Office material (-1.5%) and Metal structures and boilermaking (-0.7%).