Overall the price for construction materials rose month to month according to the producer price index (PPI) report. Coming from a backlog of information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) due to the government shutdown, only now is new information being released.  In September, the consumer price index (CPI-U) showed a 3.0 percent year-over-year rise in the seasonally adjusted all-items.
With lumber, a hot topic in turns of material price and trade, softwood lumber price index dipped this month while the soft plywood price index grew. Other construction materials saw slower price movement.The only materials with an increase was nails at 0.4%. The materials that fell included rot-rolled steel bars and copper wire. While prices for fixtures mostly saw a dip. This includes a slight fall for major appliances, furnaces and heaters while plumbing fixtures and fittings remained relatively the same.
“Overall prices for processed goods for intermediate demand were up 0.4 percent this month,” said Michael Rudy from Yield Pro. “The overall processed goods for intermediate demand index was 3.8 percent higher than its year-earlier level.”
