材料prices for most products are down sharply from a year ago. However, the rate of decline is starting to slow, and some prices have rebounded from extremely low levels. In particular, stockpiling by China has given a bounce for copper, aluminum and other commodity prices, and lumber prices, after a five-year decline, appear to have finally bottomed out.

However, the damage has already been inflicted on most construction cost indexes. In September, ENR’s Building Cost Index fell 1.3% below 2008’s level after starting the year with an annual escalation rate of 5%. ENR’s Construction Cost Index this month was up just 0.3% for the year, following an annual gain of 3.3% as recently as last July.

While materials prices may be reaching the bottom of the market, fierce competition is continuing to drive costs even lower as contractors and suppliers cut margins in a desperate search for work. As a result, construction cost indexes that reflect the selling cost of construction are showing the most dramatic declines, including year-to-year decreases of 10.8% for the Turner building cost index, 5.9% for the Rider Levett Bucknall building cost index and 8.9% for PowerAdvocates index for a 550-MW combined-cycle powerplant.

特纳·艾尔斯特德（Karl Almstead）说：“这是自新利18备用官网登录1930年代大萧条以来我们在指数中看到的一年中最大的成本下降。”“最近材料价格是相当水平的，人工成本也很平稳。新利18备用官网登录市场条件正在降低成本。”新利18备用官网登录

Falling costs come with its own set of problems, says Julian Anderson, principal with Rider Levett Bucknall. While the firm is carrying almost no cost escalation in its bids, it is factoring in a contingency for claims for change orders, which are on the rise because of unrealistic low bids, says Anderson.

“The last time I saw a really measurable and sustained decline in costs was 1976,” says Anderson. “This has been going on for nearly a whole year.” He believes competition could intensify even more as non-residential building contractors work off their backlog.

“我们公司的内部成本指数表明，自今年年初以来，建筑成本下降了2.9％，某些市场降低了8％。”新利18备用官网登录

“Although we have been impacted by the continued increases in labor costs, these increases are far outweighed by the reductions in the cost of fabricated materials, substantial discounting of project margins and final bid numbers from subcontractors,” says Clark. He expects this trend to “continue for some time, at least until vendors and subcontractors are able to bring their work volumes back to a level that allows them to manage a more profitable business,” he adds.

钢材价格下降在年代削弱需求eptember, with prices for hot-rolled steel falling about 10% from a 10-month high in August of about $620 per ton, analysts say. Hot-rolled steel was down to $520 per ton, and rebar decreased to $502 per ton by mid-September. It was a correction that followed the summer’s 8% climb since June after prices bottomed out at $430.

但是，根据华盛顿特区的钢铁制造商协会的数据，即使最新的价格后坐力衰减对恢复的期望，该行业的产能利用率仍为60％，高于春季的低至45％的低点。SMA总裁Tom Danjczek说：“利用仍在增加，但是无论我们是否可持续，我们都不知道。”“尽管如此，它还是比一年前的80％的容量利用率下降了。”

分析人士说，夏天的峰值部分是政府刺激在美国和亚洲提高的结果，并且在全球范围内感受到了对钢铁的下降压力。展望未来，定价“由于此时的经济似乎处于缓慢的恢复模式，因此定价仍然不确定，”总部位于印第安纳州韦恩堡的首席执行官基思·布斯（Keith Busse）说。