The Building Costs index in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country went down by 0.2% in December 2007 with respect to the previous month, according to data facilitated by EUSTAT, the Basque Statistics Office The rate for the whole of 2007 registers an increase of 3.5% with respect to December 2006.

During the annual period (December 2007 compared to December 2006), labour costs increased by 4.2%, whereas raw materials costs registered an increase of 3.2%.

Interannual variation rates, 1997-2007

Source: EUSTAT

In December, The Building subsector and that of Civil Works registered a similar evolution to that of their raw materials, with an 0.2% decrease over the previous month in Building and an 0,4% fall in Civil Works costs. In the annual evolution of these two subsectors it is possible to observe that both subsectors grow, albeit with different intensities: Building raw materials costs grow by 2.8% whereas those of Civil Works accumulate a 4.7% increase.

Among the prices of raw materials consumed by the sector that experienced the highest inflation rates throughout 2007 are: Petroleum derivates (23.5%), Glass (20.4%), Asphalt products (16.6%) and Artificial cement (6.9%). On the other hand, the following registered decreases in annual prices (December 2007 compared to December 2006): iron and steel raw materials (-1.7%), Metal structures and coppersmithing (-1.4%), work clothes (-1.3%) and Electric power (-0.4%).

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

Source: EUSTAT