DIY not dead yet

Tuesday, 18 April 2006 12:00 AM

Rumours that Brits are falling out of love with DIY can be put into context by research showing just how much DIY spending has increased during the last ten years.

Although DIY spending dipped in 2005 - prompting such rumours - it has increased by 76 per cent in the last decade, even allowing for increases in prices.

Halifax reports that spending on DIY rose from £6.4 billion in 1995 to £11.3 billion in 2005.

The rise is nearly double the 41 per cent increase in consumer spending over the same period.

In 1995 DIY accounted for one per cent of consumer spending, but by 2005 this had risen to two per cent.

Profit warnings from some DIY retailers and surveys suggesting that Brits no longer have the time to spare to undertake home improvement projects have led some to forecast the downfall of DIY.

A recent BBC programme DIY RIP? examined the prospects for DIY over GSI - Getting Someone In.

Design guru Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, who spearheaded a generation of TV shows that helped to fuel the DIY boom, told the programme: "As a nation of interior designers, we're bringing someone in to do it for us, and we're not going to jeopardise the effect by doing it very badly."

Halifax's research would appear to corroborate this, with DIY spending falling one per cent in real terms in 2005.

But it still remained 76 per cent above 1995 levels in a year when the housing market suffered a blip.

"Spending on DIY has risen substantially over the past ten years, although there was a pause in spending in 2005, in line with the slowdown in the housing market," said Tim Crawford, group economist at Halifax.

In addition, DIY spending is now double that of spending on tradesmen, compared with 1995 when spending on them was level.

The increases in DIY spending during the last decade have been prompted by the purchase of tools, rising by 126 per cent to £4.2 billion, and by spending on materials, rising 56 per cent to £7.1 billion.

Households in the south of England spend the most on DIY, although the recent strength of the housing market in Scotland, Wales and the north of England has also resulted in increased spending.

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