Dive summary:

• Federal cost-of-living data show that overall prices for construction materials fell 1.1% last month, which Associated Builders and Contractors attributes to global economic concerns having reduced demand.
• Whether price changes benefit a contractor depends on the work being done, however – soft wood prices rose 5.2%, but steel mill products were down 1.3%.
• ABC said the cumulative change downward was the largest single monthly decrease since February 2009, but it was not enough to keep prices from being higher than they were a year earlier.

From the article:

"One of the advantages of a weak global economy is that demand growth is suppressed, which results in smaller price increases," said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. ...