The costs of new housing construction increased by 6.8% in July compared to the same month last year, according to estimates from the National Statistics Institute (INE). This year-on-year variation represents a slowdown of 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous month, after having accelerated in June.
The increase in this indicator was mainly driven by the cost of labor, which grew 7.3% in July, slowing 1.1 percentage points compared to the 8.4% growth recorded in June. The price of materials had a variation of 6.3%, one tenth less compared to the previous month. Both factors contributed 3.4 percentage points each to the year-on-year variation of the New Housing Construction Cost Index.
Among the materials with the greatest positive impact on the aggregate variation, the bare and coated copper wire stands out, with an increase of approximately 25%, PVC pipes, with a rise of about 20%, and bitumens, with a year-on-year appreciation of approximately 15%. INE states that no year-on-year decrease was observed in the materials analyzed for the formulation of the index.
In the monthly variation, the new housing construction cost index recorded a null variation in July, 0.8 percentage points below June's value. This monthly stability was the result of a 0.3% rise in the price of materials and a 0.3% decline in the cost of labor.
