Mortgage repayment hikes impact home improvement sector
Published On 8 March 2008
Increases to mortgage repayments in the wake of the credit crunch have had a "drastic impact" on the home improvement market.Mark Brayford, operations director of HomePro Money, has said that the rises in interest rates have meant that many mortgage payers have had to find "nearly double the repayment" money.
"The home improvement market has been on a decline for quite a few months. I personally think it is fuelled by the property market," he explained.
"The problem is with remortgaging or coming off a fixed term mortgage, which is now draining disposable income.
"If you've got to find nearly double the repayment because of interest rates, then obviously some things go out of the window. I would say that that has had a fairly drastic impact on the home improvement market."
Travis Perkins, which runs over 900 builders' depots and around 200 Wickes home improvement stores, recently said that its markets were slowing, reported the Guardian.
