Construction Input Price Indices for Fourth Quarter 2023

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics hereby releases Construction Input Price Indices (CIPI) for the fourth quarter of 2023. The CIPI comprises of the Construction Inflation, Overall Construction Cost Indices, Building Cost Indices and Civil Engineering Cost Indices as shown in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The indices are generated from price data collected from a representative sample of outlets of construction inputs. The data is collected quarterly, with reference to the 15th day of the mid-month of the quarter. The Year on Year (YoY) inflation in the construction industry increased by 4.16 per cent from an increase of 7.10 per cent recorded in a similar period in 2022 as shown in Table 1 and 2. The Material Indices increased by 2.09 per cent from 121.53 in quarter 3 of 2023 to 124.07 in quarter 4 of 2023. This is a result of increase in the indices of cement, bitumen, mix and pre-coated chippings and hardcore which recorded an increase of 4.08 per cent, 3.80 per cent, 3.41 per cent and 3.12 per cent to to 106.98, 170.18, 130.81 and 109.51, respectively, in quarter4 of 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Equipment Index recorded an increase of 0.41 per cent to 107.52 while the index of Transport, Fuels and Lubricants recorded an increase of 3.46 per cent to 127.09. This is attributed to the increase in the index of fuels from 128.21 in quarter 3 of 2023 to 134.27 in quarter 4 of 2023. The Building Cost Indices increased by 1.55 per cent from 114.74 in quarter 3 of 2023 to 116.52 in quarter 4 of 2023. This was mainly due to increases in the indices of cement, hardcore, BRC wire mesh, paving blocks and steel reinforcement bars. The Civil Engineering Cost Indices increased by 1.71 per cent from 118.16 in Q3 2023 to 120.18 in Q4 2023. This increase is attributed to the increase in the prices of BRC wire mesh and steel reinforcement bars, bitumen products, concrete products and fuel products. In addition, there were notable increase in prices in hiring of rollers and motor graders in the fourth quarter of 2023.