Compared to January, the level of construction costs in Latvia rose by 0.4% in February. Maintenance and operational costs of machinery and equipment increased by 0.8%, prices of building materials by 0.5%, while labor remuneration of workers decreased by 0.1%.
In February, the average level of construction costs was mainly influenced by an increase in maintenance and operational costs of lorries, as well as of bulldozers and excavators, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.
Compared to February 2018, construction costs went up by 5.2%. Labor remuneration of workers grew by 8.1%, prices of building materials by 4.8%, and maintenance and operational costs of machinery and equipment by 4%.
In 2019, the data on prices of construction resources are provided by approximately 200 construction enterprises and more than 50 trade enterprises. When calculating the Construction Cost Index, the prices of building materials submitted by enterprises for the calculation of producer price indices in industry and import price index are also used.
The sample includes construction enterprises with the highest value of own account construction works in 2018. The share of enterprises with the value of own account construction work exceeding EUR 1 million per year accounted for 87%, in 36% of which the value of own account construction work exceeded EUR 5 million per year. The criterion used to sample trade enterprises is their turnover and specialization. (BNN/Business World Magazine)
