The Home Improvement Report 2022 Edition
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Improvement Intelligence
The latest update to our long-standing report covering the major trends in planning applications over 2021.
- Home improvement activity over the Covid pandemic
- The trends we are seeing and the reasons why
- Regional analysis: where is activity happening and what?
- The near-term prognosis
Report highlights
Key highlights for 2021:
- 2021 saw extraordinary growth: the number of applications made for home improvement work in 2021 rose by more than a quarter compared with those made pre-pandemic in 2019.
- There was a surge in applications for loft conversions, extensions, garden buildings, landscaping, and home offices.
- The North West, Yorkshire, the Humber, and the North East came out most strongly. They enjoyed an uplift in applications for home improvement close to or above 30%, compared with a GB average of 23%. London and the South East remain dominant by some distance.
- Small builders and their suppliers should be very optimistic over the outlook for demand. This will be however tempered with a deep unease over where next for the market, as the cost-of-living crisis, inflation, and economic and political instability hit home.
Home Improvement Intelligence




Introducing the Home Improvement Partnership
At Barbour ABI we recognise that the Home Improvement industry will be critical to meeting the challenges of the future – for example retrofitting the nation’s homes will be critical to meeting climate change goals. We are committed to improving the industry’s intelligence.
The Home Improvement Partnership is a collaboration between the National Home Improvement Council and the Federation of Master Builders and Barbour ABI. It produces and disseminates insight into Home Improvement, increasing knowledge and raising the sector’s profile as a critical construction industry.
Anna Scothern, CEO of NHIC, said “We are thrilled to be partnering with them on this initiative and look forward to our members benefiting from their knowledge.”
Coming soon: the Home Improvement Platform
The Home Improvement Platform will be a comprehensive insight platform that is a one-stop shop for all your home improvement and small-scale repair and maintenance strategic needs, presented in an intuitive and interactive dashboard solution. The platform will cover over 70 categories of activity, including:
- Internal and external home improvement,
- Single house builds,
- Change of use,
- Commercial activities, and
- Renewable energy.
Insights will be available down to a granular geo-spatial level and include the historical time-series of planning applications and planning approvals as well as estimates of construction output and forecasts.
Stay in touch for all updates in this space.
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