In the economic expansion that preceded the current contraction in North America’s markets, there were two periods of intense increases in construction material costs. These came early in 2004 (due to housing booms in both the U.S. and Canada) and in mid-2008 (due to the run-up in world commodity prices). Since July of last year, global commodity prices have slipped way back. CanaData’s total construction materials cost index (based on Statcan data) has fallen by 12.7% over the past six months. This report considers the outlooks for the three key sub-indices of construction material costs.