Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Prices for building materials for new residential construction, minus capital investment, labor and imports, increased 0.7% from 2023 this year. According to the Producer Price Index (PPI) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices increased 0.3% in October but remained the same in November.
Total demand for building materials—which are broken into two categories: goods and services—increased by 3%.
Prices of input goods to new residential construction in November were the same as October. The most important building materials noted on this index include ready-mix concrete, general millwork, paving mixtures and blocks, sheet metal products and wood office furniture and store fixtures. Compared to 2023, prices for all these goods increased in 2024.
In the lumber goods category, softwood lumber was the product with the highest year-over-year change in November, with 2024 prices measuring 13.7% higher than last year. Prices of inputs to services for residential construction were also unchanged from October to November, with trade services prices reported down 1.2% from last year.
