Getting your player ready...
LOS ANGELES — The surge in oil prices is driving up the cost of key construction materials and further eroding homebuyers’ confidence.
Prices have gone up for steel, aluminum, copper, concrete, brick, asphalt and plumbing fixtures, among other materials, and homebuilders are feeling pressure from suppliers to foot the bill.
In sum, the wholesale cost of building materials for new-home construction rose 3.4 percent overall in April from a year earlier, according to the Labor Department.
Homebuilders already are reeling from 40 percent buyer cancellation rates and billions of dollars in writedowns on undeveloped land. The companies already are struggling through the second year of a housing bust.
