Connecticut

Pit & Quarry, July, 2004

Some homebuilders in Greater Hartford are seeing as much as a 15-percent increase in the price of concrete since last fall--pushed higher by increased costs for cement and soaring fuel prices. The price increase is adding an average of between $500 and $750 to the cost of building a 2,500-sq.-ft. house.

Building materials and mortgage rates are now rising at the same time. A housing-permit forecast for Connecticut released by the New England Economic Partnership says it is possible that rate increases could also mean that as many as 1,000 fewer permits would be issued this year, a 9-percent drop from 2003 levels, reports The Courant.