COST FLUCTUATION OF SOME BUILDING MATERIALS IN ENUGU STATE FROM 1999 TO 2009

COST FLUCTUATION OF SOME BUILDING MATERIALS IN ENUGU STATE FROM 1999 TO 2009

ABSTRACT

Over the years, there has been an increasing cost of building projects. This work aimed at examining the extent of fluctuation trend in the prices of materials used for building projects and its cost from 1999 to 2009, by establishing the trend in building material prices over the years, providing price analysis of these materials which would identify significant variances on the cost of building projects and then foster remedial measures for fluctuation to be tackled. This research is important as it would help in the control of cost of building projects with respect to its inflation. Hence “Price Relative Index” was used as a tool for analyzing the data gotten from survey done in five major building material markets in Enugu state. “Average Price Relative Index” was equally use for further analysis. It was discovered that there has been a tremendous instability in material prices over the years which in turn led to the cost fluctuation of building project and its subsequent inflation as materials take a higher percentage in the overall building cost. It is recommended that government policies should be made not to have sporadic effect on material prices and also, measures to be taken to tackle inflation and exchange rate in the country.