Construction costs skyrocket 14.3% in April

Construction costs have spiralled 14.3 % making the cost of building new housing increasingly more expensive.

Costs have gone up for steels, ceramic products, diesel, woods and wood derivatives which all skyrocketed by 20% in April.
Added to the costs of raw materials is the cost of manpower which rose 5.8% according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) which showed that in April construction costs increased 14.3% in line with sector salaries.
And although the rising costs of manpower have slowed, the costs of materials have risen, both registering “homologous variations of 20.5% (+5.2 p.p. on March) and 5.8% (+0.6%).
At a time when Portugal is facing a general increase in prices — inflation hit 8% in May, the highest in 29 years, propelled by rising energy and food costs — the price of building materials is another factor putting pressure on economic activity.
The situation is unlikely to get any better in the short term as it was announced on Tuesday that fuel prices had once again hit a new record with premium 98+ petrol costing €2.47 per litre making the cost of filling the average SUV car with petrol at over €108. Standard diesel also went up to €1.95, above government forecasts.