People wanting to renovate their homes or build a new one had to fork out more money in the first 3 months of this year as the price for building materials increased.

The Bureau of Statistics reported that the price of wood, cement and related materials increased by 0.2%, while the prices of iron and steel - including corrugated roofing iron, galvanized iron pipe, mild steel in concrete blocks roofing nail and galvanized louver framesprices - went up by 5.3%.

PVC standard gutter, PVC pipe and double/single bowl stainless sink prices also saw an increase of 0.3%.

The prices of paint, glass, floor and wall tiles and electrical products recorded a decrease.