The Building Costs index in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country went down by 0.3% in September 2007 with respect to the previous month, as a consequence of which the interannual rate for that month reaches 4.0%, according to data facilitated by EUSTAT, the Basque Statistics Office..

The Building subsector went down by 0.3% whereas that of Civil Works decreased 0.1% in September. The interannual rate thus reached 4.0% in both cases.

Annual carryover rates, 1997-2007

(*) The increase provided is that corresponding to the September interannual rate

Source: EUSTAT

In the month of July 2007 labour costs experimented no change at all (0,0%), and raw material costs registered an 0.4% decrease.

The Building and Civil Works subsectors registered quite a similar evolution, as there were also decreases with respect to the previous month in the costs of raw materials for Building (-0.4%). There was also a slight (-0,1%) decrease in Civil Works, the relative weight of which is smaller than that of the Building subsector. In the interannual evolution of both subsectors it has been observed that both follow similar trajectories: raw material costs for Building grow 4.3%, whereas those of raw materials for Civil Works have registered a 4.4 % increase.

In the month of September the highest increases in prices were observed in raw materials derived from petroleum derivates (3.6%), asphalt products (3.0%), glass (1.6%) and lime, gypsum and plaster (1.0%), among others. On the other hand, there has been a decrease in prices of the following raw materials: electric power (-5.1%), iron and steel (-2.5%), and metal piping (-1.2%), 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: glass (25.1%), metal piping (11.8%) petroleum derivates (10.5%), iron and steel (7.3%), and artificial cement (6.1%). On the other hand, decreases have been observed in interannual prices (September 2007 compared with September 2006) in asphalt products (-9.2%) and electric devices and material (-0.7%).

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

Source: EUSTAT