• AGC said prices contractors pay for key construction materials fell 0.3% last month. ABC said the change was 0.5%.
• They agreed prices had risen from May 2011, but each had a different estimate of how much.
• Associated Builders and Contractors said in an email that it sees the lower prices lasting through the year. Associated General Contractors of America sees a short-lived break.

"The slowdown in construction input price increases is a rare and possibly short-lived event," said Ken Simonson, the Associated General Contractors of America's chief economist, noting that the last time prices rose so slowly from a year earlier was February 2010.

"Given the ongoing slew of bad economic news from around much of the world, materials prices are likely to remain stable over the months ahead." -- ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.