Cost of building materials sky high

The cost of building materials in Cyprus continues to skyrocket, making it harder for the real estate and construction sectors to recover after the scrapping of the ‘golden passports’ scheme, having suffered from the coronavirus pandemic fallout, and now the war in Ukraine.

Increases are recorded across the board, as crucial items such as steel, cement, sand, stone aggregates and wood-based materials have seen a significant price increase by 17.39% in February 2022 compared to February 2021.

Compared to the same month of the previous year, the Statistical Service Cystat reported price rises in metallic products of 27.15%, products of wood, insulation materials, chemicals and plastics of 19.88%, electromechanical products of 15.82%, mineral products of 7.20% and minerals at 5.88%.

According to Cystat, the building material with the largest increase is construction steel and iron, with prices rising by 31.3%.

The prices of ceramics have also gone up, with the cost of roof tiles increasing by 12.43% year on year.

Bricks recorded a 32.45% increase in February, compared to the same month last year, while for porcelain sanitary ware the increase was 6.98%.

Tiles was the only building material that recorded a decrease, as prices dropped a notch by 1.06%.

Builders and construction companies also saw the price of wood and timber inflate, as prices increased by 23.8%.

Electrical material

Prices of electrical fixtures saw an overall increase of 24.63%, with the largest increase of 19.96% recorded in the category of electric and solar water heaters.

Prices of pumps and water filters increased by 13.96.