British DIYers limit their spending

The amount spent on DIY jobs by households in Britain was lower in 2012 than it had been since the year 2000. It came to ₤ 10.5 bn overall or ₤ 400 per household. In real terms, which means taking into account the rate of inflation, that was eight per cent less than the previous year and 19 per cent less than ten years ago. It was as much as 33 per cent down when compared with the record level achieved in 2004. These figures were published by Lloyds TSB, an insurance group. The losses affected both expenditure on materials, which fell by nine per cent within a year to ₤ 7.0 bn (-21 per cent since 2002) and on tools, which accounted for expenditure of ₤ 3.4 bn or six per cent less (-13 per cent since 2002). But this is not only because younger consumers are no longer interested in DIY: even the amount spent on jobs done by contractors to the tune of ₤ 7.2 bn is down by seven per cent. The underlying reason is rather that the market for DIY and home improvement follows the housing market, which reached its peak in 2007.