It was disappointing this week to see the headlines focus on the news that that the economy has officially entered into a double dip recession. The statistics from the Office for National Statistics reported that GDP unexpectedly shrank by 0.2% between January and March, following a 0.3% contraction in the fourth quarter of last year, creating the first double-dip downturn since the 1970s.
Despite these gloomy figures we have seen some very positive announcements and indicators that the good start we experienced in the bedroom sector will continue, thanks to a rising demand for new homes.
The Get Britain Building fund was given a boost by the government last month when an extra £150m was added to the pot, taking the total to £570m. It is predicted that this will help build 16,000 new homes and support 30,000 construction jobs.
Prior to this the government unveiled the details of its NewBuy mortgage indemnity scheme. Under the initiative, house-builders and the government will act as co-guarantors on new homes, convincing banks to provide 95-per-cent loan-to-value mortgages.
Both of these measures have helped stimulate the market and this is reinforced by figures from the RICS that say that demand for homes is on the rise. It found that demand was at its highest level for two years in March, partly thanks to the end of the stamp duty holiday. This helped to 'ramp up' enquiries, with a nine per cent increase in estate agents reporting a rise.
More good news can be found in the results of one of the major house builders, Persimmon. British housebuilder Persimmon said it had made a good start to 2012 with both visitor levels and orders up on last year, The group said visitor levels to its sites over the first 15 weeks of 2012 were up 10 per cent on last year.Two other major house-builders, Bovis Homes and Taylor Wimpey have also posted positive results.
The fitted bedroom market is especially linked to the housing market as most new builds are space sensitive. Innovative and space saving storage solutions are high on house buyers priorities which is good news for retailers and manufacturers of such products.
We believe that the market is more positive than the headlines would suggest and that there are opportunities for manufacturers to maximize on the positives and deliver KBB retailers with the very best products and service for a successful 2012.
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