The cost of new housing construction increased by 4.7% in February compared to the same month in 2025, with labour costs rising by 8.2% and materials by 1.7%, according to estimates released by the INE this Thursday, the 9th. In February, the year-on-year change in the New Housing Construction Cost Index (ICCHN) reached 4.7%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points (p.p.) compared to January and higher than the 3.2% recorded in the same month last year. The data, released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE), shows that material prices grew by 1.7% in February, compared to 0.7% in January, while labour costs rose by 8.2%, up from 7.5% the previous month. Labour was the primary driver of the year-on-year index, contributing 3.8 p.p. to the variation, while materials contributed 0.9 p.p. According to the INE, materials with the most significant positive impact on price variation included glass and mirrors, which rose by approximately 20%, and bare copper wire, tiles, and mosaics, which saw increases of over 15% compared to the same period last year. Conversely, bitumen prices fell by 20%, and materials for cladding, insulation, and waterproofing dropped by about 10%. On a monthly basis, the ICCHN variation rate was 1.0% in February, 0.1 p.p. higher than the previous month and 0.8 p.p. above February of last year. For the monthly variation, labour contributed 0.2 p.p. and materials 0.8 p.p. The INE also revised the index variations for January and December 2025 upwards by 0.1 p.p. each, to 3.8% and 4.0% respectively.