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⁾.

Note: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) paused publication of its Producer Price Indices (PPIs) between March and October 2025, which in turn led to DBT pausing publication of new data in its Construction Material Price Indices (CMPIs).

BCIS data, which is used in the compilation of the DBT indices, has also been impacted by the ONS pause. Until publication of CMPIs resumes, BCIS is using internal PPI modelling to estimate provisional values.

As such, BCIS has published estimated figures for DBT Construction Material Price Indices: All Work, Housing, New Work, Repair and Maintenance for February to September 2025, which are available to subscribers.

Producer price indices show movement for key construction resources

New data published by the DBT show movement in the recently reinstated producer price indices (PPI) for key construction resources.

Imported sawn or planed wood and electric water heaters experienced the greatest annual increases across materials measured with prices up by 12.5% and 9.5% respectively on October 2024.

Imported plywood and gravel, sand, clays and kaolin (exc Aggregate Levy) were the only resources of those in the dataset to see an annual fall in prices, both down by 3.6%.

Conversely, on the month, imported sawn or planed wood saw the biggest price movement – down by 1.3% between September and October 2025. This was closely followed by cement which saw a monthly increase of 1.2% in October 2025.

^{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.}

Brick deliveries down on annual basis as stocks reach 15-month high

Brick deliveries (seasonally adjusted) in Great Britain decreased by 4.9% in the 12 months to October 2025 and were down by 2.6% compared with the previous month.

Compared with pre-pandemic lockdown activity levels, seasonally adjusted brick deliveries in October 2025 were 27.4% lower than in October 2019.

Stocks of all types of bricks at the end of October stood at 512.1 million – the highest level recorded since June 2024. This was an 8.1% increase on brick stocks at the end of October 2024 (473.9 million) and a 28.0% rise on the level in October 2019 (400.1 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 7.1% in the year to October 2025 and decreased by 0.5% on a monthly basis. They were down by 21.3% on October 2019.

Total stocks of concrete blocks stood at 7.2 million square metres’ worth at the end of October, an increase of 9.7% on October 2024.

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⁾.

Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at BCIS, said: ‘Material deliveries and sales are often good markers for construction demand as manufacturers adjust their production levels to reflect need. The latest data continue to point to a cooler market. Brick and block deliveries are both still well below the levels seen before the pandemic and for bricks specifically, stocks are high.

‘In particular, this underlines a softening in housing market demand as buyer activity continues to be hampered by cost inflation and affordability challenges. Unless Bank Rate falls again before the end of the year, slower housebuilding activity will probably hold into the new year.’

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

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