Building Materials Cost Index: Peninsular Malaysia
Data as of Sep 2026Monthly building materials cost index for Peninsular Malaysia, by category of building and region, excluding and including steel bars.
0 views·0 downloads
How is this data produced?
The Building Materials Cost Index (BCI) measures the average rate of change in the prices of 15 selected building materials used in 8 categories of building, and is compiled using the Laspeyres formula. The specifications and weights of the materials for each category of building are set by the Public Works Department (JKR). Prices are collected every month, with around 3,000 price quotations from about 500 outlets where contractors buy their materials. The index is published both excluding and including steel bars, and is the reference for price variation in government building contracts. Peninsular Malaysia is divided into 6 regions: Penang, Kedah & Perlis; Perak; Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka & Negeri Sembilan; Johor; Pahang; and Kelantan & Terengganu.
Indices before January 2023 were compiled on earlier base periods, each with its own material specifications and weights. To provide a continuous series, they are linked to the January 2023=100 base at the reference month of each later base, so the month-on-month and year-on-year changes within each base period are unchanged. The base periods and the months they cover are:
- July 2008=100: July 2008 to June 2012
- July 2012=100: July 2012 to June 2017
- July 2017=100: July 2017 to December 2022
- January 2023=100: January 2023 onwards
A series that was introduced with a later base starts in that base's first month. Indices including steel bars start in December 2008.
What caveats I should bear in mind when using this data?
Data for the most recent 12 months may be revised in subsequent releases.
Publication(s) using this data
Building Materials Cost Index, Sep 2026, the latest edition of the monthly building materials cost statistics published by DOSM.
Metadata
Dataset description
Monthly building materials cost index for Peninsular Malaysia, by category of building and region, excluding and including steel bars.
Variable definitions
- Date
- Category of Building
- Region
- Index (excluding steel bars)
- Index (including steel bars)
Name in Dataset | Variable | Definition |
|---|---|---|
date (Date) | Date | The date in YYYY-MM-DD format, with DD set to 01 as the data is at monthly frequency |
building (String) | Category of Building | Category of building, e.g. 'rc_1_storey', 'rc_2_4_storey_flat_roof', 'rc_2_4_storey_pitched_roof'; the full list of categories is in the table |
region (String) | Region | Region, one of 'Penang, Kedah & Perlis', 'Perak', 'Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka & Negeri Sembilan', 'Johor', 'Pahang', 'Kelantan & Terengganu' |
index_excl_steel (Float) | Index (excluding steel bars) | Building materials cost index excluding steel bars (January 2023 = 100) |
index_incl_steel (Float) | Index (including steel bars) | Building materials cost index including steel bars (January 2023 = 100) |
Last updated:
12 Oct 2026, 12:00
Next update:
10 Nov 2026, 12:00
Data source(s)
- Department of Statistics Malaysia
URLs to dataset
License
This data is made open under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). A copy of the license is available Here.
Download
Data
Full Dataset (CSV)
Recommended for individuals seeking an Excel-friendly format.
0
Full Dataset (Parquet)
Recommended for data scientists seeking to work with data via code.
0
Code
Connect directly to the data with Python.
# If not already installed, do: pip install pandas fastparquet
import pandas as pd
URL_DATA = 'https://storage.dosm.gov.my/bci/bci_building_peninsular.parquet'
df = pd.read_parquet(URL_DATA)
if 'date' in df.columns: df['date'] = pd.to_datetime(df['date'])
print(df)Sample OpenAPI query
The following code is an example of how to make an API query to retrieve the data catalogue mentioned above. You can use different programming languages by switching the code accordingly. For a complete guide on possible query parameters and syntax, please refer to the official Open API Documentation.
import requests
import pprint
url = "https://api.data.gov.my/data-catalogue?id=bci_building_peninsular&limit=3"
response_json = requests.get(url=url).json()
pprint.pprint(response_json)
© 2026 Public Sector Open Data