Press release No. N 044 of 5 July 2021
- Higher demand during coronavirus crisis and bottlenecks in delivery of raw materials are reasons for sharp price increases in May 2021
- Bricks prevail: almost one in three building permits for single-family and two-family houses constructed of brick (2020)
- Trend towards timber as building material: proportion of 23% in single-family and two-family houses, timber prevails in prefabricated construction (88%) in 2020
WIESBADEN – Those who wish to realise their dream of owning their own home or who plan to renovate their home will notice that the prices of selected building materials are rising. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that the producer prices of building materials such as timber, steel or insulating material are markedly up. Prices were up 83.3% for solid construction timber, 45.7% for roof battens and 38.4% for construction timber in May 2021 on the same month a year earlier. Reasons for increasing construction prices were not only higher timber prices but also steel prices. Prices of reinforcing steel bars in May 2021 were up 44.3%, those of reinforcing steel mesh 30.4%, on May 2020. Reinforcing steel is used to reinforce ground slabs, ceilings or walls, among other things. The main reasons for increasing timber and steel prices are presumably the rising domestic and foreign demand during the coronavirus pandemic and problems in raw materials supply. For comparison: The producer price index for industrial products (total) rose 7.2% over the same period. That was the largest year-on-year increase since October 2008 (+7.3%), when prices increased sharply due to the financial and economic crisis. The development of timber and metal prices also had a major impact on the marked increase in the overall price index.
