Great news for our industry, If like me you are wondering whether this year can continue in the same way as it started I.E. BUSY, BUSY, BUSY… the banks are telling us that people are borrowing money to improve their homes.
Since we’ve been back we’ve been flat out don’t get me wrong conservatory leads haven’t been that buoyant but even those leads are starting to kick back in now, but windows and doors have replaced the conservatories and Fascia well I used to fit a couple of metres a month now I’m starting to think I need a seperate fitting team just doing fascia as it’s starting to effect my winodw fit… anyway back to my point I’ll copy across the story for you to read…. anyway onwards and upwards as they say and here’s to the continuing trend and long may it continue…
“The state of the housing market is causing people to spend increasing amounts on home improvements, according to Sainsbury’s Finance. It estimates that in 2008, around 425,000 personal loans worth over £4 billion were taken out purely to pay for home improvements. This represents a 24% increase in the quantity of loans taken out for this purpose in 2007, and a 22% increase in the total value of loans.
In total £11.3 billion worth of loans were taken out partially or wholly to cover home improvements during 2008, spread across more than 1.1 million loans(2). This is 53% more loans than were taken out partially or wholly for home improvements during 2007(1).
Steven Baillie, Head of Loans at Sainsbury’s said: “It is well-documented that the housing market struggled last year, and our figures might suggest that people have decided to stay put and make the most of their existing homes. It may also suggest however that they’re trying to add value to their current homes in order to get a better price for them when the property market recovers.
“If people do decide that they need a loan to pay for their home improvements, they should make sure they look around for the best rates on the market, which could save them a considerable amount in repayments.” ”
Source: The Money Pages
So there we have it great news for all home improvement companies it looks like we could be in for a good year (touch wood) at least it’s started off well…..
Fingers crossed!