The latest figures from the Builders Merchants Building Index (BMBI), published in May, show that total value sales in Q1 2024 were -7.2% down compared to Q1 2023, with volume sales falling -8.7% and prices edging up +1.6%. With one fewer trading day in Q1 2024, like-for-like sales were -5.7% lower.
Just three of the 12 categories sold more in Q1, year-on-year, with work wear and safety wear (+11.5%) out in front. The two largest categories – timber and joinery products (-10.6%) and heavy building materials (-9.4%) – both sold less. Renewables and water saving (-26.5%) was the weakest category.
Quarter-on-quarter, total value sales for Q1 2024 were up +3.5% compared to Q4 2023. Volume sales were +3.9% higher and prices were flat (-0.4%). With three additional trading days in the most recent period, like-for-like sales were -1.4% lower. All but one category sold more, with landscaping (+14.6%) growing the most. Timber and joinery products (+2.8%) grew more slowly.
“As the macro-economic picture stabilises and threatens to improve, construction related businesses are all faced with the promise of better times sometime in the coming months,” said Simon Woods, European sales, marketing and logistics director at West Fraser and BMBI’s expert for wood-based panels.
“However, if new domestic house build is part of your business, it seems that this may not be such a feasible promise. Having spoken with a number of house builders, there is a real concern over the planning situation in the UK. Local planning offices are underresourced and unable to meet the demand of the house build sector – even though it is currently depressed.
“Local Authorities have had their housing targets removed – which was a fundamental part of the National Planning Policy Framework, ensuring Local Authorities had a local plan to deliver their local housing needs. This meant that the Local Authority had to have a fully agreed plan to deliver the needs of the local area, and without this any planning applications from house builders which were rejected, were approved on appeal – due to the Local Authority not having a plan of their own. This no longer exists, as government sought to keep as many voters as sweet as possible, prior to the election. The CMA (Competition & Markets Authority) concluded in a recent report that planning permissions must be sustained at a somewhat higher level over an extended period in order to deliver realistic levels of homes.
“For the builders’ merchant sector and the suppliers within it this is a catastrophe. As we see the possibility of an exit from a very difficult period of trading, we need all doors open, rather than Local Authorities seeking to keep a lid on the house build sector.”
