ABC Report: Construction Materials Prices Rise 1% in January
Prices are Up 5% From a Year Ago
Construction input prices rose 1.3% in January and are 4.9% higher than a year ago, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data.
“Recent employment and retail sales reports indicate that the economy is not slowing nearly as quickly as predicted,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “That is the good news. The bad news is that the economy remains overheated, a phenomenon neatly reflected in the January PPI data, which indicated that construction input price gains accelerated on a monthly basis."