Prices trend of selected building and construction materials on Ghanaian construction market: 2011–2016

Abstract

Increase prices of building and construction materials have the tendency of increasing the cost or prices of housing for both buying and renting purposes. This study investigates the prices trend of some selected common building and construction materials on the construction market in Ghana. Average annual prices of building materials from 2011 to 2016 were collected from Public Procurement Board and used in the determination of the trend in prices of building and construction materials in Ghana. The data were inputted into Microsoft Office Professional Plus Excel, version 2016 for generating graphs for analysis. It was revealed that materials such as fine aggregates, felt, aluminium roofing sheets and sandcrete blocks had an inconsistent (fluctuating) increase in price. It was further found that other materials such as coarse aggregates, ordinary Portland cement, concrete kerbs and high-tensile steel rods had a consistent increase in prices along the study period. The study concludes that there is general increase prices trend of the selected building and construction materials on the construction market in Ghana. It is recommended for government and the legislature to take the necessary measures and enact laws to control the factors that contribute to the increasing prices of building and construction materials.