Building material prices stay flat

Construction & Property, Economy and Business and Finance

MANILA, Philippines-The change in the retail price index for selected building materials in Metro Manila in April slowed down to 1.7 percent year-on-year, even as the construction industry remained the brightest spot of the economy amid the global crisis.

Data from the National Statistics Office show that the increase in prices in April was the lowest in at least 43 months or since August 2006 when a rise of 4.3 percent was recorded.

The basket of goods considered in the index for construction products includes materials for carpentry, electrical installations, masonry, painting materials and related compounds, plumbing, tinsmithry and miscellaneous use.

On a monthly basis, the RPI for construction supplies was almost flat at 0.1 percent in April compared to prices in March.

Monthly prices have fluctuated since a contraction in February prices against January prices by 0.3 percent, and a rise of 0.6 percent in March.

The fastest month-on-month increase in retail prices in the past two years was recorded in June 2007 at 7.3 percent.

Slower annual growth rates were seen in carpentry materials at 6.2 percent in April compared to the same month in 2008, from 6.7 percent in February this year against prices in the same month of the previous year.

The same was observed with electrical materials (4 percent from 6.9 percent), masonry materials (5.6 percent from 7.8 percent), plumbing materials (2.7 percent from 3 percent), and tinsmithry materials (11.8 percent from 12.1 percent).

For the third straight month, the miscellaneous construction materials group continued to show faster contraction at 16.1 percent.

In April, only prices of painting materials and related compounds increased, by 7.2 percent from 6.6 percent in March.

Also, monthly growth rates were slower due mainly to declines in the prices of electrical materials and miscellaneous construction materials at -1.1 percent and -1.8 percent from 1 percent and -1.6 percent in March, respectively.