Credit: STATEC
The national statistics portal STATEC has found that the evolution of residential construction prices continued to slow, with a modest half-yearly increase of 0.5% between October 2023 and April 2024.
This reportedly represents a significant decrease compared to the previous period from April to October 2023, when the increase was 1.2%. Over one year, prices in residential construction increased by only 1.7%. This annual variation thus returns to its long-term average level observed between 2010 and 2019. This marked slowdown can largely be attributable to the decline in prices in structural work, counteracted, however, by continued increases in technical installations, STATEC noted.
Some stages of construction, such as structural work or frame construction, saw their prices drop between October 2023 and April 2024. This contraction in prices in structural work, unprecedented since the financial crisis of 2009, is mainly due to the weak demand for residential construction. The downward trend in the prices of certain materials, such as iron reinforcements, also contributes to this slowdown. On the other hand, the prices of earthworks increased slightly by 1.2%, but remained stable over one year.
Price changes for roofing work (up 0.6%) are also varied. The prices of wooden frames (down 0.4%), gutters and downpipes (down 0.3%) or insulation (remained unchanged) are down or stable, while the prices of roofing remain on an upward trajectory (up 1.1%). The prices of wood and certain insulating materials are trending downward at the start of the year, which largely explains this lull, according to STATEC. Overall, roofing remains the trade whose prices have changed the most since the materials crisis and the inflationary surge (up 42.0% between 2020 and April 2024).
Despite a slowdown or even a half-yearly decline in most trades, technical installations are an exception. All services, whether sanitary installations (up 1.8%), heating and ventilation installations (up 2.1%) or electrical installations (up 3.5%) are changing more strongly than the general index (up 0.5%). This sustained trend is mainly explained by the increase in the price of supplies, passed on to project owners, STATEC added.
Prices in finishing are generally up (0.8%), but divergent trends are evident in detail. Thus, for the second consecutive half-year, prices for plastering work are down (down 0.5%). Price drops were also noted for tiling (down 1.3%) and screeds and coatings (down 0.3%). Other services, such as painting (up 3.0%) and floor coverings (up 1.6%), are however among the most dynamic over the last half-year.
The general composite index for April 2024, expressed on a base of 100 in 1970, stands at 1146.73 points. This index is used for the indexation of almost all fire insurance contracts, as well as for many other applications such as the updating of estimates or sales contracts in future state of completion.
The construction price index measures price changes (excluding VAT) of services provided in residential construction, excluding land. It takes into account changes in the prices of materials and labour but also changes in productivity and contractors' margins. Indices and variation rates are calculated half-yearly for construction as a whole, but also for different trades and groups of services.
This index is published twice a year, in January for data from October of the previous year and in July for data from April. It is available on the statistics portal in the short-term indicators section, series A2.
The results of the October 2024 index will be published on 15 January 2025, following the biannual meeting of the Technical Advisory Commission for the construction price index.
