Will the cost of building materials go up or down in 2023?

In this article we analyse mybuildingsupplies.ie’s building materials price tracker including:

Material prices as of January 2023
How much insulation costs and where prices are heading
How much sheet materials cost and where prices are heading
How much timber costs and where prices are heading
How much plasterboard costs and where prices are heading
How much cement costs and where prices are heading
How much concrete blocks cost and where prices are heading

Online builder’s merchant mybuildingsupplies.ie has been updating its building materials price tracker for the most common building materials used in Ireland today.

The builder’s merchant has used figures on a per square meter or meter cubed basis and taken an average to show general trends. Data collecting started in March 2022 and are for ROI only. Here are the highlights from January 2023 (Week 1 to 3 on the charts).

Cost predictions for materials in 2023: insulation

Prices are likely to fluctuate in the short term due to manufacturer cost increases, rising energy and transport costs along with raw material price increases.

This has caused an upward trend of pricing throughout 2022 that is set to continue into 2023.

While prices will continue to fluctuate in the short to medium term, prices are expected to stabilise in the longer term.

Cost predictions for materials in 2023: Timber

The good news comes from the timber industry. After large price increases at the end of 2021, prices are now trending downwards.

Timber prices should remain at least stable into 2023 but the chance of price increases are still a possibility.

The cost of energy may increase production costs later this year and additional transport costs may cause a further increase in pricing before the year is out.

Predictions for cement

May 2022 saw a rise in costs for cement but this has flattened out throughout the rest of the year to date.

However, rising energy and transport costs might yet cause an increase in pricing throughout 2023.

Predictions for sheet materials

Price increases seen in early 2022 have plateaued and actually started to reduce from the summer and into the autumn and winter of 2022.

Prices should at least remain stable in the short term but there is always a risk of a price increase due to supply shortages and a rise in manufacturing and transport costs.

Recent stock shortages are likely to push up demand with an inevitable rise in costs.

Furthermore, the war in Ukraine is continuing to put pressure on supply chains as key ingredients for MDF are sourced from there.

Predictions for plasterboard

Fairly consistent pricing throughout 2021 and 2022, with a rise into 2023 that is set to continue.

Prices will further increase due to raw material costs, global transport costs and rising energy costs.

Predictions for concrete blocks

Blocks were subject to a slight price increase in the early part of 2022 with prices stabilising in the summer, before another slight increase in the autumn of 2022.

There is cautious optimism that pricing can be maintained into 2023 but rising energy costs may prevent that.