The Construction Costs Index of the A.C. of the Basque Country increased by 0.3% in May 2006 with regard to the previous month, by which the inter-annual rate for the months came to 4.3%, according to EUSTAT data. The increase produced on the previous December was 4.2%.

In May 2006 labour costs did not vary at all (0.0%), while raw material costs rose by 0.5%.

The subsectors Building and Civil Works registered a similar evolution, with 0.5% growth on the previous month both for Building and raw material costs. In the inter-annual evolution of these two subsectors we find that both follow similar patterns: raw material costs for Building grew by 3.8%, while raw material costs for Civil Works accumulated a 4.0% increase.

In May the highest increases in prices corresponded to the raw materials consumed by Metal piping (4.1%), Explosives and gases (2.9%), Electric energy (2.5%) and Iron and steel (2.1%), among others. By contrast, prices fell for the raw materials consumed by Asphalt products (-2.5%), Oil by-products (-1.8%), Lime, gypsum and plaster (-1.6%), and Timber and cork (-0.2%), among others.

Among the prices of raw materials consumed by the sector that have shown higher inflation rates over the whole of the last twelve months are: Oil by-products (23.2%), Asphalt products (21.0%), Electric energy (15.3%), Explosives and gases (9.9%), Iron and steel (7.9%) and Glass (7.7%). On the other hand, inter-annual prices (May 2006 on May 2005) fell for the raw materials used in Lime, gypsum and plaster (-3.4%) Metal piping (-1.0%), and Ceramic products (-0.1%).