Construction continues to suffer and house construction costs rise. Istat found that in the second quarter of 2012 the cost of constructing a residential building increased by 0,2% compared to the previous quarter and by 2,5% compared to the second quarter of 2011. The leap forward in the index is mainly due to theincrease in the cost of transport and freight, +5,9% compared to the same period of 2011. The price of labor (+2,5%) and building materials (+1,7%) also grew on a trend basis.
On a conjunctural basis instead, between April and June 2012, the indices by cost group recorded increases of 0,5% for materials and 1,3% for transport and freight, while the cost of Labor is unchanged.
Within the Materials, specifies the Istat, the greatest cyclical increases concern the waterproofing, thermal insulation (+2,4%) and coatings and paints (+1,7%) categories. Compared to the second quarter of 2011, however, the largest increases are recorded for waterproofing, thermal insulation (+7,1%) and brick and concrete products (+4%).
From Istat also come the indicators on building permits. In the third and fourth quarters of 2011, the number of permits recorded "a sharp decline" compared to the same quarters of the previous year, both in residential construction and, to an even more accentuated extent, in non-residential construction.
In third quarter of 2011, the number of homes in new residential buildings for which a building permit was issued showed a trend decrease of 15,2%, decreasing in the fourth quarter of 2011 (-7,8%). The corresponding usable habitable surface, which decreased by 14% in the third quarter, decreased by 8,9% in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter of 2010.
Always in the penultimate quarter of 2011 there was a decrease in area of new non-residential buildings: on a trend basis -18,2%; in the fourth quarter of 2011 the negative change was even higher and equal to -19,2%.
