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Published: 14/11/2024
Each month the Department for Business and Trade publishes construction material price indices, covering 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, delivery and stock for Great Britain.
Annual movement in building materials prices shows 17th consecutive decrease in September
Construction materials prices for All Work fell by 0.7% in the 12 months to September 2024, according to the latest figures published by the Department for Business and Trade. This was a smaller decrease than the 1.1% fall seen in the year to August 2024.
New Housing registered a 0.3% increase, Repair and Maintenance was up by 0.2% and Other New Work decreased by 1.8% in the 12 months to September 2024.
Source: Department for Business & Trade – Building materials and components statistics, Table 1a
The figures demonstrate a continued cooling in materials cost inflation, compared to where prices have been in the last couple of years, albeit with differences in annual movement between some outlier materials, and therefore for different trades.
Flexible pipes and fittings saw the largest annual increase at 17.6%.
Precast concrete and ready-mixed concrete also showed more significant price increases than other materials. Fabricated structural steel remained among the materials showing the greatest price decreases compared with September 2023.
Source: 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 a monthly basis, the most significant price differences were seen in electric water heaters (-4.0%), fabricated structural steel (-2.0%) and imported sawn or planed wood (-1.7%)
DBT’s report also showed concrete block deliveries (seasonally adjusted) were down by 3.9% in the year to September 2024 and down by 3.5% on a monthly basis.
Brick deliveries (seasonally adjusted) increased by 14.7% in the 12 months to September 2024 but decreased by 1.5% compared with August 2024. Stocks of all types of bricks at the end of August stood at 478.2 million, which was 10.4% fewer than at the end of September last year (533.6 million).
By comparison with pre-pandemic activity levels, seasonally adjusted brick deliveries in September 2024 were 30.2% lower than in September 2019, and stocks were 22.1% higher.
Source: Department for Business & Trade – Building materials and components statistics, Table 9a
Dr David Crosthwaite, Chief Economist at BCIS, said: ‘Generally, building materials prices seem to have stabilised, with a few exceptions, after the dramatic falls witnessed last year.
‘As output remains depressed, we expect this trend to continue into next year. Brick and block deliveries are also constrained by a lack of demand, although stock levels appear robust in anticipation of an uptick in output through 2025.’
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