Construction, Estonia, Real Estate, Statistics

Ulo Paulus, analyst at Statistics Estonia said that three-fourths of the quarter-over-quarter decline in the construction price index is attributable to a 0.9 percent drop in labor costs.

"Expenditure on materials likewise declined 0.1 percent, while those on machines remained at the same level. Compared with the same quarter last year, the change in the index was affected by materials becoming 0.6 percent more expensive, which accounted for over a half of the total increase of the index," Paulus said in a press release.

The repair and reconstruction work price index moved down 0.3 percent compared with the first quarter of 2020 and rose 0.5 percent compared with the second quarter of 2019.

The calculation of the construction price index covers four groups of buildings: detached houses, blocks of flats, industrial buildings and office buildings. The repair and reconstruction work price index covers office buildings. The construction price index expresses the change in construction expenditures taking into consideration the price changes of three basic inputs: labor, building materials and building machines.