BMBI: Disappointing December Rounds Off a Tough Trading Year for Builders’ Merchants

The latest Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report reveals builders’ merchants’ like-for-like value sales for Q4 2025, adjusted to remove the impact of trading days, were -1.2% lower than Q4 2024. Like-for-like volume sales were down -2.9%.

With no difference in trading days, unadjusted Q4 total value sales were also down -1.2% year-on-year. Volume sales fell -2.9% while prices rose +1.8%. By value, seven of the twelve categories sold more with Miscellaneous (+6.4%) ahead of the rest. Of the two biggest categories, Timber & Joinery Products (+1.8%) performed better than Total Builders Merchants, and Heavy Building Materials (-3.9%) was the weakest category.

Like-for-like sales for Q4 2025 were -9.0% lower than Q3 2025, with like-for-like volume down -13.1%. With four less trading days in Q4, total unadjusted quarter-on-quarter value sales were -14.6% lower, with volume down -18.5% and prices up +4.8%. Only two categories sold more, Workwear & Safetywear (+6.0%) and Plumbing, Heating & Electrical (+4.7). Timber & Joinery Products sold -13.3% and Heavy Building Materials -16.2% less. Seasonal Landscaping (-31.7%) was the weakest.

December 2025 like-for-like sales were -2.5% lower than the same month the previous year. Like-for-like volume sales decreased -5.8%. With one additional trading day in December 2025, unadjusted total value sales were up +3.3% year-on-year. But volume sales were -0.3% lower and prices up +3.6%. By value, ten categories sold more with Renewables & Water Saving (+16.7%), Kitchens & Bathrooms (+9.8%) and Plumbing, Heating & Electrical (+9.8%), the standout categories. Of the big product categories, Timber & Joinery Products sold +8.6% more, while Heavy Building Materials (-0.5%) and Landscaping (-5.1%) both sold less.

Month-on-month, December’s like-for-like value sales were -18.2% down compared to November, with volume sales down -20.6%. With two less trading days in December, unadjusted total value sales were down -26.3%. Volume sales were down -28.5% and prices were up +3.1%. All categories sold less by value, but Services (-13.8%) fell by less than other categories. Of the biggest categories, Timber & Joinery Products fell -26.1%, Heavy Building Materials -28.3%, and Landscaping -31.3%.

Year-to-date like-for-like value sales for January to December 2025 were +0.9% up on 2024. Like for like volume sales increased +1.9%. With one less trading day in 2025, total unadjusted sales were +0.5% higher; volumes were up +1.5% while prices eased -1.0%.

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Mike Rigby, MD of MRA Research who produce this report, said, “The UK economy grew by just +0.1% in Q4 2025, according to the ONS, as business and consumer confidence nosedived ahead of the Autumn budget, ensuring a subdued end to the year. But ONS’s construction output data recorded a bleaker and more disappointing end for construction with Q4 output shrinking -2.1% compared to Q3. Private new housing (-3.6%) the main negative contributor.

“The Construction Products Association (CPA) duly downgraded its forecast construction output for 2026 from +2.8% to +1.7% and downgraded its forecast for private housebuilding from +4.0% to +1.5%. Private housing RMI was revised down to -1.0%.

“With unemployment (5.2%) climbing to its highest rate in five years (16.1% for 16–24-year-olds – the highest in 10 years), and a New Year which has seen both non-stop political crisis and rain every day, the prime minister has likely reached saturation point for just about everything.

“But it’s not all bad news. Inflation, measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), rose by +3.0% in the 12 months to January 2026, down from +3.4% in the 12 months to December 2025, and some economists are forecasting a fall to the Bank of England’s target rate of +2% sometime this year. That could encourage the Bank to cut interest rates more often and by more than expected, which could encourage investor, business and consumer spending.

“The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is set to deliver the Spring Statement early in March, amid a surprise record-breaking budget surplus of £30.4bn in January 2026 and she’s been very clear about not delivering any tax rises – in the interests of stability and certainty. These are two qualities the construction industry and its supply chain desperately need. Without that, it’s difficult to see how 2026 will not be more of the same.”

Download the full report here.

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