Building Material Prices Increase in November Led by Lumber
Prices for inputs to new residential construction—excluding capital investment, labor, and imports—were unchanged in November according to the most recent Producer Price Index (PPI) report published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to a year ago, this index was up 0.7% in November after rising 0.3% in October. The inputs to the new residential construction price index can be broken into two components—one for goods and another for services. The goods component increased 1.2% over the year, while services decreased 0.3%. For comparison, the total final demand index increased 3.0% over the year in November, with final demand with respect to goods up 1.1% and final demand for services up 3.9% over the year.
