Residential construction costs continued to creep upward in March. According to the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye On Housing blog, which cites data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for inputs to new residential construction increased by 0.6% in March. Additionally, the inputs to the New Residential Construction Price Index grew by 1.3% from March 2024. The index consists of inputs to goods and services. Year-over-year, both goods and services increased by 1.3%.
The goods component makes up the larger portion of the total index at 60%. Month-over-month, the price of input goods to new residential construction was up 0.5%. Growing by 0.8% month-over-month and 2.7% year-over-year, building materials made up a significant portion of this increase.
Metal products used in residential construction saw the largest price increases in the month of March. Across all inputs to new residential construction, ornamental and architectural metal work increased the most, up 21.0%. Ornamental and architectural metal work products increased 11.2% on a month-to-month basis, by far their largest monthly increase for the product, with the next closest being 7.9% back in October of 2021. Read more