The first half of 2024 was characterised by persistent core inflation and ongoing commodity price volatility due to fresh and prolonged geopolitical shocks, with global growth expected to come in at 3.2%, slowing from the 3.3% growth in the preceding year.
Based on our regional survey on construction cost escalation issues, interest rates have overtaken wage cost as the third most influential factor in the first half of 2024, reflecting the strain longer-than-anticipated high interest rates have on the region’s construction industry.
In this report, majority of the region’s construction industry continues to reflect largely stabilised material cost in 1Q 2024 compared to the previous quarter, while increase in labour costs have been reported in four of the same cities. Tender price movements are expected to continue escalating in 2024, with a wide range of Y-o-Y movement compared to 2023.
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