The decrease of construction price index has slowed down

News
Posted on 20 July 2010, 11:00
According to Statistics Estonia, the percentage change of the construction price index was -3.4% in the 2nd quarter of 2010 compared to the 2nd quarter of the previous year. This index decreased for the sixth quarter in succession, though the decrease has slowed down.

The construction price index started to decrease at the beginning of 2009 compared to the same quarter of the previous year and the largest decrease was reported in the 3rd quarter (-10.5%). After that, the decrease has decelerated quarter by quarter — in the 4th quarter the decrease was 10% and in the 1st quarter of 2010 it was 7.5%.

In the second quarter of 2010, the construction price index was mainly influenced by the 6.4% decrease in labour costs. The prices of building machines have decreased the least compared to the same period of the previous year. Of building materials, the index was mainly influenced by the fall in the prices of insulations products and finishing materials.

Compared to the 1st quarter of 2010, the change in the construction price index was -0.1%, mainly influenced by the decrease in labour costs. The repair and reconstruction work price index also fell by 0.1% compared to the 1st quarter of 2010, and by 3.5% compared to the 2nd quarter of the previous year.

The calculation of the construction price index covers four groups of buildings — detached houses, blocks of flats, industrial buildings and office buildings as well as office buildings covered by the repair and reconstruction work price index. The index expresses the change in the expenditures on construction taking into consideration the price changes of basic inputs (labour force, building materials and building machines).

Change in the construction price index, 2nd quarter 2010
  1st quarter 2010 –
2nd quarter 2010, %
2nd quarter 2009 –
2nd quarter 2010, %
TOTAL -0.1 -3.4
labour force -0.4 -6.4
building machines -0.1 -1.4
building materials 0.0 -2.3
Index of detached houses 0.0 -2.7
Index of blocks of flats -0.1 -3.4
Index of industrial buildings -0.1 -3.3
Index of office buildings -0.1 -3.6

 

Change in the repair and reconstruction work price index, 2nd quarter 2010
  1st quarter 2010 –
2nd quarter 2010, %
2nd quarter 2009 –
2nd quarter 2010, %
TOTAL -0.1 -3.5
labour force -0.2 -5.9
building machines -0.2 -0.5
building materials 0.0 -2.7