According to the labor department, the wholesale cost of building materials for new home construction rose 3.4 percent in April, over the same month last year. The primary cause for the price increase - the surge in oil prices. Prices have gone up for steel, aluminum, copper, concrete, asphalt and plumbing fixtures, among other materials. Pain at the pump is now pain at the jobsite. $140 a barrel oil is adding to damage done to the housing market by poor mortgage lending practices, a weak dollar and foreign investment in the credit market.
Hopefully the G8 finance ministers will do more than just talk about the soaring oil prices when they meet in Japan over the next two days.
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