Residential construction costs/ Annual growth of 1.1% in the first quarter

2026-06-04 14:19:00, Ekonomi CNA

Profit margins in the construction sector have increased significantly in recent years because costs have increased at much lower rates than prices.

Today's INSTAT data shows that the Construction Expenditure Index in the first quarter of 2026 experienced an annual increase of 1.1%, a year ago this change was 1.0%.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the largest price increase is observed in the group "Salary expenses" with 4.8%, followed by the group "Other costs" with 2.5%, "Transport expenses" with 1.7% and the group "Machinery expenses" with 1.5%.

On the other hand, the group “Material Expenses” marked a decrease of 0.9%. Within the group “Material Expenses”, the index of the subgroup “Construction Materials” marked a decrease of 1.4%, followed by the subgroup “Hydro-sanitary and ventilation materials” with 0.9%.

On the other hand, the group "Electrical and communication materials" recorded an increase of 0.5%.

The Construction Expenditure Index increased by 0.3%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.

The largest price increase is observed in the group "Other costs" with 1.7%, the group "Salary expenses" with 0.6%, the group "Machinery expenses" with 0.3% and the group "Transport expenses" with 0.3%.

On the other hand, the group "Material expenses" has marked a decrease of 0.2%. Within this group, the subgroups "Hydro-sanitary and ventilation materials" had a decrease of 0.8% and the subgroup "Construction materials" by 0.4%. On the other hand, the subgroup "Electrical and communication materials" marked an increase of 0.2%.

The construction sector has expanded significantly in recent years with high-rise buildings in Tirana and resorts and hotels on the coast. The growing demand has led many businesses from other sectors to shift into construction.

The Housing Construction Expenditure Index (HCI) will be calculated with the new base starting from the first quarter of 2024. The fourth quarter of 2021 serves as the base period for calculating the index (fourth quarter of 2021 = 100).

The IKN measures the price performance of construction materials, labor, and other capital expenditures used in the construction of a typical house (8-10 stories). The new basket consists of 71 items, of which 66 are construction materials.

Prices for construction materials are collected from 237 distributors and wholesalers of construction materials. Meanwhile, data on expenses for wages, machinery and transport are obtained from 97 large construction companies concentrated mainly in the Tirana district./Monitor