Building cost inflation: 5.1% in September 2026, but cement and steel are cheaper than a year ago (GSS)

Ghana's Prime Building Cost Index for September 2026 shows building prices 5.1% higher than a year ago - about half last year's pace, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. What got cheaper, what got dearer, and what it means if you are building from abroad.

By Ernest · 27 October 2026

An unfinished multi-storey concrete building in the Greater Accra Region. — An unfinished building in the Greater Accra Region. The Ghana Statistical Service's Prime Building Cost Index tracks how the prices of construction inputs are changing. Photo: Kwameghana, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted.

The key facts

Annual building inflation (September 2026)	5.1%
August 2026	4.6%
Month-on-month change	0.03%
Compared with a year ago	Building costs 5.1% higher than September 2025
Biggest fall	Steel, down 8.8% year-on-year
Biggest rise	Reinforcement, up 29.0% year-on-year

What the GSS reported

The Ghana Statistical Service published its Prime Building Cost Index (PBCI) for September 2026 on Tuesday 27 October. It puts annual building inflation at 5.1%, up from 4.6% in August, with prices almost flat month-on-month (up 0.03%). Fourteen of the 23 sub-groups the index tracks recorded inflation above the 5.1% average.

The annual pace is about half what it was a year ago, according to the GSS figures as reported by MyJoyOnline - but the rate has been edging up since March 2026.

Construction workers and engineers on a school building site in Grumesa, Ghana. — A school building site in Grumesa, Ghana, in July 2013. Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0; adapted.

What got cheaper

Some inputs cost less than a year ago. The GSS figures show cement down 6.1% and the Steel sub-group down 8.8% year-on-year - the biggest fall in the index. Labour costs fell 3.2%.

What got dearer

The biggest rise is in reinforcement - up 29.0% year-on-year, the highest of the 23 sub-groups the GSS tracks and a separate category from Steel. Plant and equipment rose 19.1%. For households, plumbing materials were up 27.5%, glazing 20.6% and tiles 9.2%. Overall, the materials group rose 6.5%.

A building frame under construction in Labone, Greater Accra. — A building under construction in Labone, Greater Accra, in January 2023. Photo: Matti Blume, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted.

If you are building from abroad

The index is a national average of price changes, not a price list - quotes from suppliers and artisans in your area will differ. The figures are mixed: cement, the GSS Steel category and labour fell, but reinforcement rose 29%. That doesn't mean the whole structural stage got cheaper. Finishing items such as plumbing, glazing and tiles are also rising well above the 5.1% average, so where a project lands depends on its stage and its mix of materials.

Source: Ghana Statistical Service, Prime Building Cost Index September 2026 release, published 27 October 2026, as reported by MyJoyOnline (also), Citi Newsroom and 3News.