Don't Do It Yourself as home improvement sales slide
DIY sales are taking a hammering on plastic as shoppers cut back on home improvement spending, analysis of Virgin Money Card data shows*.
Spending data from the card, which is Britain’s fastest-growing and offers 16 months 0.0% per annum on balance transfers, shows total spending on home improvements dropped by 10 per cent in 2008 compared with the previous year.
Home improvement spending was lower in 2008 in nine months of the year compared with 2007 with only January 2008 showing a substantial increase on the same month in 2007, the analysis shows.
And the slowdown in home improvement spending accelerated from September 2008 when the financial crisis really hit home – home improvement spending in the last 4 months of 2008 was 21 per cent lower than the same period last year.
The figures from Virgin Money confirm the slowdown in DIY spending as revealed by Homebase owner Home Retail Group which saw spending drop by 10.2 per cent in the 18 weeks to January 3rd.
And they indicate that homeowners, instead of spending more on DIY to compensate for not being able to move house, are simply cutting spending. Virgin Money card spending data shows a growing trend to cut back with shoppers switching to discount stores.
Grant Bather of Virgin Money, said: "Optimists might have hoped that DIY and home improvement spending would hold up as homeowners concentrated on making their current home better even though they couldn’t move house.
"The reality isn't quite as rosy – home improvement spending is suffering just as much as other luxury spending with massive drops in the last four months of 2008."
Virgin Money is offering 16 months 0.0% per annum on balance transfers to new customers (plus a handling fee of 2.98%) and they will also benefit from 0.0% per annum on card purchases for six months from the date of application**. The typical rate is 16.6% APR variable.
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* Virgin Money data. Comparing 2007 with 2008.
**Repayments are allocated to balances at the lowest rates first. If you have balances attracting the same promotional rate, we allocate repayments to the balance at the promotional rate which ends first.
For further information:
Grant Bather, Public Relations Manager, Virgin Money
07834 844 427
Kevan Reilly/Billy Partridge Citigate Dewe Rogerson
0207 282 1096 or 0207 282 2863
About Virgin Money Credit Card
The Virgin Credit Card is promoted by Virgin Money Limited and issued by MBNA Europe Bank Limited, Registered Office: Stansfield House, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9QQ. Registered in England number 2783251. Credit is available, subject to status, only to UK residents aged 18 or over. As the Virgin Credit Card is issued by MBNA you can’t transfer a balance from another credit card issued by them. We will monitor or record some phone calls. MBNA is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
About Virgin Money
Virgin Money is Virgin’s financial services arm and was established in 1995.
Virgin Money has over two million customers and offers a wide range of financial products across lending (e.g. credit cards and personal loans), savings (e.g. deposits, investments and pensions) and protection (e.g. life insurance, home insurance and car insurance) to the UK market.
Virgin Money Personal Financial Service Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Registered Office: Discovery House, Whiting Road, Norwich NR4 6EJ. Registered in England no. 3072766. Entered on the Financial Services Register (www.fsa.gov.uk/register), Register Number: 179271