BY DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER
[ manilatimes.net ] February 16, 2011
PRICES of construction materials in Metro Manila rose in January compared with a year ago, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said on Tuesday.
The NSO said the retail price index of selected construction materials went up to 3.3 percent last month from 1.3 percent in January last year.
A higher monthly price hike was noted in electrical materials at 4.4 percent this year from 3.9 percent last year; miscellaneous construction materials, 4.1 percent from -6.3 percent; plumbing materials, 3.8 percent from 3.1 percent; and carpentry materials, 3.5 percent from -1.5 percent.
The price of painting materials and related compounds also recorded an increase of 2 percent this year from 1.5 percent in 2010.
Masonry materials suffered a decline in prices to 0.9 percent this year from 1.8 percent last year.
On a monthly basis, the retail price index of selected construction materials in Metro Manila also went up to 0.4 percent in January from 0.3 percent in December. The NSO earlier reported that the total number of building construction projects nationwide stood at 23,970 during the third quarter of last year, down by 9.2 percent from the 26,397 in the same period of 2009.
Residential type buildings fell to 17,618 from 19,543 in 2009, while non-residential construction went up by 1.1 percent to 3,138 from 3,103 previously.
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