Total builders merchants value sales were up 6% in May 2019 compared with the previous month. Sectors that performed well on a month-by-month unadjusted basis included landscaping (+10.7%), heavy building materials (+6.7%), tools (+5%) and timber and joinery products (+4.6%).
However, the adjusted May 2019 figures, which take into account the trading day difference, show that on a like-for-like basis, total builders’ merchants’ sales in May were just 1% higher than April. Timber and joinery sales were down 0.4% over the period on the same basis.
Year-on-year
Total builders’ merchants’ value sales in May 2019 were flat (+0.0%) compared with the same period in 2018. Timber and joinery products (+0.9%) and heavy building materials (+0.3%) saw marginal sales increases year-on-year, while many sectors including tools (-5.4%), plumbing, heating and electrical (-2%) and kitchens and bathrooms (-2.3%) reported lower sales in May 2019 compared to May 2018.
This more subdued performance was echoed in ONS construction output figures. Total output in May 2019 had grown compared with last year, but RMI output was down by 1.8%, and the most significant drop was seen in private housing RMI (-6.8%) in the month.
Index
May’s BMBI index was 129.3, with landscaping the highest category at 171.1 – and its highest index to date. The timber and joinery index for May was 127.9.
