Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said a month-on-month comparison showed a decrease in the unit price index for selected materials such as steel, sand, bricks, wall and plumbing materials for most areas of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak.”

“The unit price index of cement for most areas remained unchanged compared to August, while a slight increase was recorded for Penang, Kedah and Perlis (0.5%), Terengganu and Kelantan (0.3%), Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan (0.2%),” it said.

The average price per unit of steel, consisting of mild steel round bars and Mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars was RM3,586.98 per metric tonne, recording a slight decrease of 0.9% compared to August.

Meanwhile, the building cost material index (with steel bars) for all building categories in Peninsular Malaysia increased between 0.1% and 0.5% in September compared to the previous month.

“The highest increase was recorded for two to four-storey reinforced concrete buildings (flat roof) in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang,” the department said.