The latest Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report shows April’s total like-for-like value sales (adjusted to remove the effect of trading days) were -0.6% lower than the same month in 2025. Like-for-like volume sales were down -3.5% with prices up +3.0%.
Year-on-Year
With no difference in trading days, total unadjusted value sales were also -0.6% lower, with volumes down -3.5%. By value, just three categories sold more: Services (+7.0%), Timber & Joinery (+1.6%) and Miscellaneous (+0.2%). Renewables & Water Saving (-6.6%), Workwear & Safetywear (-4.6%) and Heavy Building Materials (-1.9%) saw the largest declines.
Latest three months (February to April)
Like-for-like value sales for the three months February to April 2026 were -2.8% lower compared to the same three months in 2025. Like-for-like volume sales were down -7.1% with prices increasing +4.7%. With one extra trading day in the most recent three-month period, unadjusted value sales were down -1.2%, with volumes down -5.6% and prices up +4.7%. By value, eight categories sold more, led by Renewables & Water Saving (+8.9%). Timber & Joinery Products (+2.1%) performed better than Total Builders Merchants, while Heavy Building Materials (-3.8%) was the weakest category.
Latest 12 months
In the 12 months from May 2025 to April 2026, like-for-like value sales were down -0.7% compared to the previous 12-month period (May 2024 to April 2025). With no difference in trading days, unadjusted volume sales fell -2.0% while prices increased +1.3%. By value, eight categories sold more, led again by Renewables & Water Saving (+7.8%). Timber and Joinery Products grew more slowly (+2.2%) while Heavy Building Materials (-2.9%) was the weakest category.
Andrew Simpson, Packed Products Director at Heidelberg Materials and BMBI’s Expert for Bagged Cement & Aggregates, comments: “The Mineral Products Association’s (MPA) latest report confirms a decline in Q1 volumes. Mortar sales were -2% lower than Q4 2025, while primary aggregate sales (-0.8%) and ready-mixed concrete sales (-0.5%) also fell quarter-on-quarter. Q1 asphalt sales were flat (-0.1%), despite increased local authority spending on road maintenance ahead of the end of the financial year.
“The war in Iran is having a huge impact on the market and customers. We are trying to keep price increases to a minimum, but rising oil prices affects everything from operational and transport costs to the price of packaging.
“For customers, elevated energy costs and market uncertainty is denting business confidence and some major projects, including the OpenAI Stargate project, are being shelved until conditions improve. Big infrastructure projects, such as HS2 and Sizewell C, are pushing up crushed rock volumes (+1% quarter-on-quarter) but there aren’t enough major schemes under construction to make up for shortfalls elsewhere.
“Construction demand for housebuilding materials remains low. Weak demand from buyers and a lack of developments in progress means very little is getting built or bought. If we are to see any return to growth in housebuilding this year, we need the Government to work harder to release the bottlenecks in planning and to drive demand and affordability. An updated version of the Help to Buy scheme would certainly support the latter, and we all need to get behind calls from the MPA and campaigns such as Jewson’s Let’s Get Britain Building – NOW!
“Despite all this, I am still confident there will be pockets of growth this year. With jet fuel shortages on the horizon, it could be another year for staycations and an uptick in RMI. In Q2 we are already seeing an increase in bagged cement volumes which started when the rain stopped, and it has been sustained. Hopefully this will continue throughout the rest of the year.”
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