Construction input prices dipped 1.4% during the final month of 2014 and are down nearly 1% on a year-over-year basis, according to the Jan. 15 producer price index release from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Inputs to nonresidential construction fell even further, down 1.7% for the month and 1.9% year over year. December's report marks the sharpest decline in input prices since late 2008 during the global financial crisis and the fifth consecutive month construction materials prices have failed to rise.
"Without question, financial markets have been unnerved by the recent declines in oil, copper and other commodity prices, although that jitteriness does not necessarily imply a serious economic problem in America," said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "The fact is the U.S. economy has performed handsomely over the past nine months, according to most metrics, and conventional wisdom suggests that it can continue to expand at or above trend rates of growth despite economic weakening in Europe, China and elsewhere. This is further evidenced by the World Bank's recent downgrade of its forecasts for global growth in 2015 and 2016, while it upgraded its outlook for the United States.
"Overall, the view that U.S. domestic demand for construction services and most other services continues to expand is consistent with the fact that some domestically produced and consumed materials actually registered price increases last month," said Basu. "Note that concrete prices are up by 5% on a year-over-year basis while natural gas prices are up by 10%."
The following materials prices increased in December:
• Prices for plumbing fixtures expanded 0.1% in December and are up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis.
• Concrete products prices expanded 0.7% in December and are up 5% on a yearly basis.
• Natural gas prices expanded 19.7% in December and are 10% higher than one year ago.
• Fabricated structural metal product prices grew 0.3% for the month and have expanded 1.5% on a year-over-year basis.
• Seven of the 11 key construction inputs did not experience price increases for the month.
• Iron and steel prices fell 1% in December and are down 3.9% from the same time last year.
• Nonferrous wire and cable prices fell 1.6% on a monthly basis and 1.5% on a yearly basis.
• Prices for prepared asphalt, tar roofing, and siding fell 1% for the month but are up 1.9% on a year-ago basis.
• Steel mill products prices fell 1.3% for the month but are 0.4% higher than one year ago.
• Softwood lumber prices fell 1.3% in December but are 0.3% higher than one year ago.
• Crude petroleum prices fell 18.9% in December and are down 37.1% from the same time last year.
• Crude energy materials prices fell 4.7% in December but are 19.6% lower year-over-year.
Related Stories
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Sep 8, 2022
Chicago Bears unveil preliminary master plan for suburban stadium district
As the 2022 NFL season kicks off, the league’s original franchise is fortifying plans to leave its landmark lakefront stadium for a multi-billion-dollar mixed-use stadium district in northwest suburban Arlington Heights.
| Sep 8, 2022
The Twin Cities’ LGBTQ health clinic moves into a new and improved facility
For more than 50 years, Family Tree Clinic has provided reproductive and sexual health services to underserved populations—from part of an old schoolhouse, until recently.
| Sep 8, 2022
U.S. construction costs expected to rise 14% year over year by close of 2022
Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) is forecasting a 14.1% year-on-year increase in U.S. construction costs by the close of 2022.
Giants 400 | Sep 7, 2022
Top 95 Industrial Sector Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
Ware Malcomb, Stantec, Haskell, and Macgregor Associates Architects top the ranking of the nation's largest industrial facility sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
| Sep 7, 2022
Use of GBCI building performance tools rapidly expanding
More than seven billion square feet of project space is now being tracked using Green Business Certification Inc.’s (GBCI’s) Arc performance platform.
| Sep 7, 2022
K-8 school will help students learn by conducting expeditions in their own communities
In August, SHP, an architecture, design, and engineering firm, broke ground on the new Peck Expeditionary Learning School in Greensboro, N.C. Guilford County Schools, one of the country’s 50 largest school districts, tapped SHP based on its track record of educational design.
| Sep 6, 2022
Herbert V. Kohler, Jr. (1939-2022) An incomparable spirit
Dynamic leader and Kohler Co. Executive Chairman Herbert Vollrath Kohler, Jr. passed away on September 3, 2022, in Kohler, Wisconsin.
| Sep 6, 2022
Demand for flexible workspace reaches all-time high
Demand for flexible workspace including coworking options has never been higher, according to a survey from Yardi Kube, a space management software provider that is part of Yardi Systems.
| Sep 2, 2022
Converting office buildings to apartments is cheaper, greener than building new
Converting office buildings to apartments is cheaper and greener than tearing down old office properties and building new residential buildings.
| Sep 2, 2022
New UMass Medical School building enables expanded medical class sizes, research labs
A new nine-story, 350,000 sf biomedical research and education facility under construction at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, Mass., will accommodate larger class sizes and extensive lab space.
