Merchant Q2 value sales up +2.8% year-on-year as volumes pick up +4.0%
The latest Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report reveals builders’ merchants’ value sales for Q2 2025 were up +2.8% compared to Q2 2024. Volume sales were up +4.0% year-on-year, while prices came down -1.1%. With one less trading day this year, like-for-like value sales were +4.5% higher.
Nine of the twelve categories sold more by value in Q2 2025 compared to the same quarter a year before, with value sales for Renewables & Water Saving (+13.0%) increasing the most. Of the two biggest categories, Timber & Joinery Products (+3.7%) performed better than Total Builders Merchants, while Heavy Building Materials (+2.7%) fell just behind. Decorating (-2.0%) was the weakest performing category.
Quarter-on-quarter builders’ merchants’ value sales for Q2 2025 were +11.7% higher than the previous three-month period (January to March 2025). Volume sales saw a double-digit increase (+13.9%) while prices were down -2.0%. By value, nine of the twelve categories sold more with seasonal category Landscaping (+46.8%) well ahead of the rest. Heavy Building Materials (+11.1%) and Timber & Joinery Products (+11.0%) recorded strong value sales growth but were behind Total Builders Merchants. Plumbing Heating & Electrical (-8.9%) was the weakest category.
With two less trading days in the most recent quarter, like-for-like value sales for Q2 were +15.3% up compared to Q1.
Quarter 2 finished strongly, with total value sales for June up +5.6% year-on-year. Volume sales increased +6.7% and prices were -1.0% lower. All bar one category sold more in terms of value with Renewables & Water Saving (+14.1%), Plumbing Heating & Electrical (+12.2%), Workwear & Safetywear (+10.5%), Ironmongery (+8.4%) and Timber & Joinery Products (+7.9%) increasing the most. Heavy Building Materials (+4.9%) value sales grew more slowly than Total Builders Merchants, while Decorating (-0.5%) was the weakest category.
Month-on-month, June total value sales were -0.9% behind May. Volume sales were down -0.1% and prices fell -0.8%. By value, just four categories sold more: Kitchens & Bathrooms (+6.1%), Plumbing Heating & Electrical (+3.9%), Workwear & Safetywear (+3.8%) and Ironmongery (+1.9%). Of the two largest categories, Timber & Joinery Products was flat (0.0%) while Heavy Building Materials (-0.6%) declined less than Total Builders Merchants. With one more trading day in June, like-for-like sales were down -5.6%.
Mike Rigby, MD of MRA Research who produce this report, said: “After a difficult start to the year, the Q2 BMBI report has promising signs of growth in the builders’ merchant sector and Repair, Maintenance and Improvement markets. Volumes are rebounding, and while June was no great improvement on May, things are headed in the right direction.
“The latest ONS data suggests improvement, estimating total construction output to have grown +1.2% compared to Q1, with new work (+1.1%) and repair and maintenance (+1.4%) on the up. Again, the month-on-month picture is subdued, with June output growing just +0.3% compared to May. The ONS reports that private housing repair and maintenance, up +3.7%, was the main driver of growth.
“The big question is whether this momentum can be sustained into H2 with growing concerns about possible tax rises in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget.
“A 0.25% cut in interest rates to 4% in August, the fifth since August last year, has yet to get people spending much more or the economy moving. But August’s GfK consumer confidence index is up two points to -17. Looking back 12 months and looking forward 12 months, the biggest improvements are to personal finances with both scores up by three points. The lift is most likely due to this 7th cut in interest rates, making the cost of borrowing the lowest for more than two years. Encouragingly, the Major Purchase Index, which is associated with home improvement project spend, also rose two points. And GfK’s savings index, which is not included in the confidence index, dropped four points which suggest people are a little more likely to spend than save compared to July.
“Despite more encouraging news, now would be a very good time for the Chancellor and Prime Minister to make good on their promises to clear the obstacles to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament and get Britain building and the economy growing.”
Set up and run by MRA Research, the BMBI – a brand of the Builders Merchants Federation – is a monthly index of builders’ merchant sales, and the most reliable, up-to-date proxy for Repair, Maintenance, and Improvement (RMI) activity in the UK. The index is based on actual sales from NiQ GfK’s Builders’ Merchant Point of Sale Tracking Data, which captures value sales out to builders from generalist builders’ merchants, accounting for 88% of total sales from builders’ merchants throughout Great Britain. An in-depth review, which includes commentary by sector experts, is produced each quarter.
The Q2 2025 BMBI report is available to download at www.bmbi.co.uk.
