Merchant Sales in Q1 Reflect Market Downturn

Sales of building materials at builders’ merchants across the country were down by 3.1% during the first three months of 2008, when compared with the same trading period of the previous year, latest figures from the Builders Merchants Federation reveal.

A comparison with the preceding three month period, October to December 2007, shows a drop in sales of 2.5%.

Merchants in the West Midlands and the North West have been hardest hit experiencing a drop in sales of 10.5% and 10.4% respectively.  Very few parts of the country showed an overall increase in sales, the greatest being the Northern region where sales were up 2.6% on Q1 last year.

Nationally, sales of heavyside were up by a modest 1.5% on the same quarter of 2007, while lightside sales showed no change.  Mixed stock merchants have been worst affected, experiencing an overall fall in sales of 4.6%.

Commenting on the figures, BMF Secretary, Peter Matthews said:  'Even allowing for poor weather and an early Easter these figures confirm a slowdown in builders’ workload reflecting the credit crunch and the current near stalling of the housing market'

Web: http://www.bmf.org.uk