Building costs in Georgia are up 3.4% over the year — but residential costs actually fell, and fuel and power did the damage

Georgia's overall construction cost index was 0.8 per cent lower in August 2026 than in July, and 3.4 per cent higher than in August 2025. Measured against February 2022, the index is up 29.2 per cent — a useful anchor for anyone comparing a quote today with a budget drawn up before the post-2022 cost jump. The figures come from the National Statistics Office of Georgia and were published on 7 October 2026.

Broken down by cost component, the annual rise is almost entirely one line. Transportation, fuel and electricity were 19.7 per cent dearer than a year earlier and contributed 2.31 percentage points of the 3.4 per cent total. Machinery added 4.7 per cent, other costs 5.6 per cent, and construction materials just 0.8 per cent — in other words, materials have been close to flat for a year while running a site has not. Wages in construction fell 6.5 per cent month on month in August, which is what pulled the monthly index down.

Split by type of work, the three segments are pulling in different directions. Residential construction costs were 0.6 per cent lower than a year earlier and 0.7 per cent lower than in July. Non-residential costs were 4.6 per cent higher over the year, though they dropped 4.7 per cent in the month. Civil works — roads, bridges, utilities — were up 7.0 per cent over the year and still rising, adding 0.6 per cent in August alone, and that segment contributed 2.93 percentage points to the overall annual increase.

A contractor quoting a residential job has, on this evidence, no material-cost argument for a big increase over last year — the pressure in their numbers is logistics and power, which is a line you can ask to see broken out. A buyer of an off-plan flat should read it the other way: flat residential costs make a developer's margin less fragile than it was in 2022-2023, which is one of several things worth checking before paying a deposit on a project that has not broken ground. The index measures costs, not selling prices, and says nothing about demand.