Prices for inputs to new residential construction—excluding capital investment, labor, and imports—decreased 0.6% in September according to the most recent Producer Price Index (PPI) report published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to a year ago, this index was down 0.1% in September after an increase of 1.0% in August.
The inputs to new residential construction price index can be broken into two components—one for goods and another for services. The goods component decreased 0.7% over the year, while services increased 1.0%. For comparison, the total final demand index increased 1.8% over the year in September, with final demand goods down 1.1% and final demand services up 3.1% over the year.
Input Goods
The goods component has a larger importance to the total residential construction inputs price index, around 60%. The price of input goods to residential construction was down 0.7% in September from August. The input goods to residential construction index can be further broken down into two separate components, one measuring energy inputs with the other measuring goods less energy inputs. The latter of these two components simply represents building materials used in residential construction, which makes up around 93% of the goods index.
Prices for inputs to residential construction, goods less energy, were up 1.5% in September compared to a year ago. This year-over-year growth has continued to slow since April when it was at 2.5% and remains well below growth in September of 2022 when it was at 14.3%. The year-over-year growth in September 2023 was 1.0%, making this year’s growth slightly higher. The index for inputs to residential construction for energy fell 23.5% in September, the largest yearly decrease since 26.1% in July 2023.
The graph below focuses on the data since the start of 2023 for residential goods inputs. Energy prices have retreated over the past year, with only two periods of growth in 2024.
Input Services
Prices of inputs to residential construction, services, fell 0.5% in September from August. The price index for service inputs to residential construction can be broken out into three separate components: the trade services component, the transportation and warehousing services component, and the services less trade, transportation and warehousing component. The most vital component is trade services (around 60%), followed by services less trade, transportation and warehousing (around 29%), and finally transportation and warehousing services (around 11%). The largest component, trade services, compared to last year was up 0.4% in September after increasing 2.1% in August.
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