Building costs post slight rise in August

Building costs rose 0.3 per cent in August 2017 compared to the costs in August last year, reports the Statistics Finland.

The prices of building materials rose by 1.3 per cent and of services by 0.6 per cent compared with that in August 2016.

The prices of labour input, on the other hand, fell by 1.1 per cent over the year till August 2016. The price slide of labour inputs is explained by a lower employer’s social security costs than that in 2016.

From July to August 2017, the total index of building costs had remained nearly unchanged. The prices of building materials went up by 0.2 per cent and those of services remained level with the previous month. The prices of labour inputs fell by 0.2 per cent reportedly due to data revisions in the index of wage and salary earnings.