The Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) quarterly Builders Merchants Building Index (BMBI) listed Scotland as the top performing region, with growth of 16.1%.

All regions sold more in April, May and June 2023 compared to the first three months of the year, with total value sales up 7.6%.

The volume of sales overall rose by 11.3% in Q2, while prices were -3.3% lower.

Alan Trail, BMF chairman for Scotland said: “It is great that Scotland has been the best performing region in the UK on growth increase.

“It is very positive that this is driven by sales volume rather than price inflation that had affected figures over the last couple of years.

“This is the first time in four quarters that growth was entirely due to stronger volumes. While the figures are good for Q2 against Q1 of this year there are still challenges ahead for merchants with sales still lower than against 2022 figures.”

Seen as a gold standard measure of sales activity in the building materials sector, the BMF’s BMBI is considered a key bellwether of the national economy and the ‘mood of the nation’ in terms of home repair, maintenance and improvement.

BMF CEO John Newcomb said: “The latest BMBI report indicates a shift in the drivers of growth in the building materials supply chain.

“After months of increased sales value being largely down to price inflation, the latest report shows that growth recorded in Q2 this year came entirely from a higher volume of sales.”

Using GfK’s point of sale tracking data, the BMF’s BMBI is drawn from over 80% of builders’ merchants sales throughout the country, making it the most reliable source of data for the sector.