Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the percentage annual increase in construction costs in central London in each of the last ten years.

The Government does not collect data on annual increases in construction costs at local level. At national level, ONS data shows that the overall cost of construction, which takes into account materials, labour and overheads, has increased by 24% between December 2019 and December 2024. In addition, data published by DBT show that the cost of construction materials has increased by 37.1% between January 2020 and January 2025. Construction wage rates correspond to activity in the sector. ONS statistics show that the annual growth for regular pay in the construction sector was 6.6% in the year to December 2024.