The latest figures from the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) suggest that sales of building materials remain flat – growing by just 0.6 per cent from December 2011 to February 2012.
The increase was a year-on-year rise, but compared with the previous three-month period, sales actually dropped by a disappointing 3.7 per cent. The figures reflect a report released by the Office for National Statistics last week, which showed a 10.3 per cent and 12.9 per cent fall in construction output in December and January respectively, followed by a modest 6.1 per cent increase in February.
Although sales nationally were not showing too many signs of growth, certain regions did enjoy growth in building materials sales, such as London, which saw an 11 per cent rise and Yorkshire, which reported a 12.1 per cent rise.
In fact, many English regions saw sales increase, with Scotland bearing much of the brunt of falling demand for building materials – with sales falling 13.5 per cent during the three-month period.
The secretary of the BMF, Peter Matthews, said that he will be interested to see how government initiatives to stimulate house building affect the building materials trade. He explained, “It remains to be seen if the recent changes in planning law will open up more housing development, and whether government initiatives such as the Green Deal will bring about an increase in energy efficient RMI work to give a much needed boost to our sector over the coming year."
Thursday, April 26, 2012http://images.newsvend.info/131870-183235-large.jpghttp://images.newsvend.info/131870-183235-2544.jpg
http://www.norbord.co.uk/news/figures-show-disappointing-building-materials-sales
No comments:
Post a Comment