Reconstruction Cost Trends Decelerate

May 27, 2026 / 2 min read

The latest 360Value^® Quarterly Reconstruction Cost Analysis report gives an overview of current reconstruction cost trends at the national and state levels for the United States from April 2025 to April 2026.

Total reconstruction costs in the United States, including materials and retail labor, increased by 3.6% from April 2025 to April 2026, down from April 2024 to April 2025 (5.2%). Cost growth in Q1 2026 was down from the previous quarter at 0.8%.

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Residential reconstruction costs

Total residential costs increased by 3.2% from April 2025 to April 2026 and 0.78% from January 2026 to April 2026. Residential reconstruction costs increased year over year in all states.

The District of Columbia again had the largest increase at 5.67%, followed by Indiana at 4.61% and Kansas at 4.59%. Rhode Island’s rank rose most significantly, from 48th in January 2026 to 12th in April 2026; costs were up 4.03% year over year in the state.

Commercial reconstruction costs

Total commercial reconstruction costs increased 4.1% from April 2025 to April 2026 and 0.76% from January 2026 to April 2026.

Rhode Island had the largest increase at 6.36%. Oklahoma and Iowa followed with increases of 5.81% and 5.22%, respectively. Rhode Island had the most significant rank jump, from 31^st place.

Labor and materials

Material costs rose by 2.95% from April 2025 to April 2026. These costs increased 1.49% over the quarter. Material prices remained largely stable this quarter, with modest movement across all eight tracked composites. Interior trim material had the largest yearly increase at 5.7% after a yearly increase of 4.9% in the previous release of this report. Paint material increased by 3.7%, while all other materials changed by less than 1%. Lumber was the only material to decrease over the past 12 months, dropping 2.3%.

Combined hourly billable labor costs increased by 4.09% from April 2025 to April 2026. The quarterly change was 0.95%, compared with last quarter’s 1.14% increase. Drywall installer/finisher led all trades with the highest increase at +1.28%. Labor rates increased across all eight tracked trades this quarter.

Market expectations

Market expectations for reconstruction costs anticipate a 1.83% increase for residential and a 1.46% decrease for commercial from April 2026 to October 2026.

360Value delivers forward-facing insights every quarter via CSV download. Get 3-, 6-, and 12-month future indexes for residential and commercial structures based on regional reconstruction costs down to individual ZIP codes. To learn more about the Market Expectations Index, contact Trish Hopkinson, head of 360Value, at trish.hopkinson@verisk.com.

Read the latest for more information on this quarter’s performance.

Read the latest 360Value Quarterly Reconstruction Cost Analysis for more information on this quarter’s performance.

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