ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF TRENDS IN THE PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS ON BUILDING DEVELOPMENT IN EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA

  This study assessed the impart of trends in the price of building materials on building development in Ebonyi State. Building materials cost is crucial to the success of real property development in several emerging economies. It affects the developed property size, completion period, quality and quantity of finishing to meet the needs and demand of the populace. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design and questionnaires were used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using the simple statistical tools presented on tables, frequency and percentages. The findings showed that the factors responsible for the high cost of building materials includes; general state of inflation in the economy, increase in import duties, increase in taxes, unavailability of raw materials, transportation cost and pump price of petroleum products and lack or unavailability of raw materials for the production and processing of building materials. Furthermore, the study also revealed Increase in construction cost, Lower demand for infrastructure, Increase in construction cost etc as its impact on building development as it leads to decrease in building development. The study recommended that government should reduce exchange rate of foreign currencies at par with naira and reduction in import tax as curb the high cost of building materials increasing yearly