The Building Costs Index registered a 0.4% increase in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country in May 2007 with respect to the previous month, as a consequence of which the annual carryover rate for that month reaches 5.8%, according to data facilitated by EUSTAT, the Basque Statistics Office. The Building subsector grew 0.5% and the Civil Works subsector grew 0.3% in May, thus placing the annual carryover rate at 6.0% for Building and 4.7% for Civil Works.

Annual carryover rates, 1997-2007

(*) The stated increase is the May annual carryover rate

Source: EUSTAT

In the month of May 2007 labour costs experimented no change at all (0,0%), whereas raw material costs registered an increase of 0.6%.

The Building and Civil Works subsectors registered a similar evolution, with a 0.7% increase over the previous month in Building, and 0.5% in raw materials for Civil Works. In terms of annual carryover evolution of both subsectors it has been observed that both follow similar trajectories albeit with different intensities: raw material costs for Building have grown 7.1%, whereas those of raw materials for Civil Works have registered a 5.4% increase.

In the month of May the highest increases in prices were observed in raw materials consumed in Glass (4.0%), Iron and Steel (2.9%), Petroleum Derivates (2.0%), Asphalt Products (2.0%) and Explosives and Gases (1.7%), among others. On the other hand, there has been a decrease in prices of raw materials in the following chapters: Electric Power (-1.3%), plastic piping (-0.3%), Copper Structures and Copper Forming (-0.3%), Baked Clays (-0.2%) and chiselled stone (-0.2%), among others.

Amongst the prices of raw materials consumed by the sector that have experienced the highest inflation rates throughout the last twelve months are: iron and steel (25.5%), glass (23.0%), metal piping (16.4%) and electric power (9.1%). On the other hand, decreases have been observed in annual carryover prices (May 2007 compared with May 2006) in asphalt products (-10.1%), petroleum derivates (-3.4%), and structures and metal forming (-1.2%).

Building Costs Index - Autonomous Community of the Basque Country / Data Development. May 2007

Source: EUSTAT