Latest building materials and components statistics

Each month the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) publishes construction material price indices, categorised under All Work, New Housing, Other New Work and Repair and Maintenance, as well as tracking a selection of building materials and components for the UK, and providing statistics on bricks and concrete blocks production, deliveries and stock for Great Britain⁽¹⁾.

BCIS data is used in the compilation of the DBT indices and the full methodology can be found here.

Publication of DBT’s construction material price indices (CMPIs) resumed in January 2026 after a pause between February 2025 and December 2025. This was due to a methodological error being identified and corrected by the ONS in its Producer Price Indices (PPIs) and Services Producer Price Indices (SPPIs).

Annual movement in building material prices show 11th consecutive rise in November

Construction material prices for All Work increased by 3.0% in the 12 months to November 2025, according to the latest provisional data published by the Department for Business and Trade.

This was the 11th consecutive month this index showed increasing annual movement and followed an 18-month period of decreasing annual movement between June 2023 and December 2024.

New Housing registered a 4.1% increase, Repair and Maintenance was up by 4.0% and Other New Work rose by 2.4%.

^{Source: Department for Business & Trade – Building materials and components statistics, Table 1a}

Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: ‘The newly resumed construction materials price indices show modest growth throughout 2025 after a period of sustained downward movement.

‘This presents a double-edged sword for the construction sector. On the one hand, it perhaps suggests demand has improved or it could simply be reflective of higher prices being charged by suppliers.

‘On the other hand, inflationary pressures from materials prices could be returning and with them, the potential for higher project expenses and tighter margins for contractors. However, it should be noted that growth levels appeared reasonably modest at the end of last year.’

Elsewhere in the DBT report, the greatest annual inflation seen for individual resources was in imported sawn or planed wood prices, up 11.9% in the year to November 2025, followed by an 8.5% rise for electric water heaters.

Cement, imported plywood, concrete reinforcing bars (steel) and gravel, sand, clays and kaolin (exc Aggregate Levy) were the only resources of those in the dataset to see a decrease in annual price movement in November.

^{Source: ource: Department for Business & Trade – Building materials and components statistics, Table 2.}

^{*DBT advises index values should not be relied upon for long-term contractual purposes, as they are based on relatively few quotes.}

On the month, fabricated structural steel saw the greatest increase in annual price movement at 2.6%. The steepest decrease was recorded in gravel, sand, clays and kaolin (inc Aggregate Levy) with a 2.3% fall.

Brick and block deliveries down as stock levels soar

Brick deliveries (seasonally adjusted) in Great Britain decreased by 6.1% in the 12 months to November 2025 and were down by 0.3% compared with the previous month.

Against pre-pandemic lockdown activity levels, seasonally adjusted brick deliveries in November 2025 were 26.4% lower than in November 2019.

Stocks of all types of bricks at the end of November stood at 542.1 million, the highest level recorded since December 2023.

By comparison, brick stocks at the end of November 2025 were up by 14.5% on the end of November 2024 (473.3 million) and by 29.2% on the level in November 2019 (419.5 million).

^{Source: Department for Business & Trade – Building materials and components statistics, Table 9a}

DBT’s report also showed concrete block deliveries (seasonally adjusted) in Great Britain were down by 11.5% in the year to November 2025 but increased by 0.7% on a monthly basis. They were down by 21.6% on November 2019.

Total stocks of concrete blocks stood at 8.2 million square metres’ worth at the end of November, an increase of 22.3% on November 2024.

This was the highest level recorded since April 2024.

‘Seasonally adjusted brick and concrete block stock levels in November were the highest for more than 18 months in both cases,’ Dr Crosthwaite said.

‘It speaks to a cooler construction market, more so in the residential space as affordability and regulatory challenges continue to stall activity. The impact of gateway 2 delays at the Building Safety Regulator have been significant but the good news is that process reforms and the establishment of the new Innovation Unit seem to be increasing the volume of decision-making. Only time will tell as to whether this has a long-term influence on residential output.’

What’s behind building materials production decline?

The DBT-published dataset, which covers back to 2012, showed both ready-mixed concrete deliveries and sand and gravel sales (seasonally adjusted) fell by more than 30% in 3Q2025 on 3Q2019.

Sand and gravel sales were the lowest on record in 2Q2025, 2Q2020 excepted; 3Q2025 saw the third lowest level of ready-mixed concrete deliveries recorded behind the second quarters of this year and 2020.

^{Source: Department for Business & Trade – Building materials and components statistics, Tables 4a & 6a}

Further, the Mineral Products Association said domestic cement production has dropped to the lowest level since 1950, citing the impact of high energy costs and increased pressure from imports⁽²⁾.

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^{(1) GOV.UK – Building materials and components statistics: December 2025  - here}

^{(2) MPA – Government building plans at risk as UK cement production falls to 75-year low - here}