“In the third quarter, the 2% higher cost of materials had the biggest impact on the construction price index compared with the third quarter of last year. The costs of labour force and building machines both rose by 1.2%,” said Ülo Paulus, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia. Compared with the second quarter of 2025, labour costs increased by 0.4% and materials were 0.3% more expensive, while the cost of using building machines decreased by 0.6%. “Prices associated with building machines were mainly driven down by savings from adjusted fuel prices. The higher cost of materials was primarily