Mauritius United Properties

www.newsnow.mu   10/08/2009

Building costs on way down

The cost of building a house has dropped over the previous three monthsaccording to latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

The construction price index, a measure that keeps track of the cost ofbuilding a mediumsized house, has decreased by 1.5% during the secondquarter. A similar trend was noted during the first quarter of 2009,where a 2% decrease was registered.

The highnumber of construction projects in the country had pushed prices ofconstruction materials up for the better part of the past four years.That pressure seems to have abated according to the latest figuresavailable.

The cost of inputs for the constructionof a single- storey house as tracked by the CSO, have been declininggradually since November last year.

There has beena 9% decrease in the price of steel bars in the month of April; thisfollows another 10.8% drop the previous month.

Fora medium- sized housed consisting of two bedrooms, living room andother amenities, the cost of labour represents nearly 35% of the totalcost.