Builders merchants’ sales are rising 2.5% year on year but signs of a slowdown are evident, according to the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF).
The figures represent an eighth successive year that annual sales have exceeded the previous year. Sales for the three months ending August show a 5.3% increase compared with March-May, while August turnover was 1.9% up on the same month in 2003.
But a BMF spokesperson said a decline in sales during September, compared with a year ago, was evidence of a slowdown in the economy, with house price growth and high street sales faltering.
The BMF said its members’ future trading prospects still appeared promising, citing the Barker Review’s recommendation of a 25% boost in social housing output and a backlog in big government contracts in the education and health sectors.
And DIY business is expected to stay healthy due to continuing high levels of remortgaging and equity withdrawal as people invest in their properties.
