The price of construction materials edged downward for the fourth consecutive month, falling 0.3 percent from December to January, according to a recent producer price index report released by the U.S. Labor Department.

Citing “extraordinarily weak demand for goods and services” stemming from the economic downturn, Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu added that “one of the few bright spots in the economy is that we live in subdued inflationary times.”

Basu said it’s unclear whether Congress took into consideration the decreasing price of construction materials when it passed the economic stimulus package earlier this month. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on Feb. 17. Had it been considered, Basu said, lawmakers probably would have shored up investment in infrastructure, because the decline in construction input prices means that the United States can afford “more infrastructure per dollar.”

Since their peak in September 2008, construction input prices are down 8.4 percent, he added.

“The falling construction input prices also accelerate the pace of the eventual recovery in nonresidential construction, since developers and others will be better positioned to forge ahead with their projects,” Basu said.

On a year-over-year basis, prices were up 1.8 percent from January 2008.