Sales volumes at plumbing and heating merchants fell by 7.8% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, according to figures from the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF).
The Plumbing and Heating Merchants Index (PHMI) found that total sales by value were 0.2% lower than in the same quarter of 2025. The smaller decline in value sales reflected an 8.2% rise in prices over the period.
Sales also fell compared with the first quarter of the year. On a like-for-like basis, which adjusts for differences in the number of trading days, value sales were down 9.2%, while sales volumes fell by 6.7%.
There were two fewer trading days in the second quarter. Without adjusting for this difference, value sales were 12% lower than in the first quarter, with volumes down 9.6% and prices falling by 2.7%.
Looking at the 12 months to June 2026, like-for-like value sales were 0.8% higher than in the previous 12-month period. However, volumes declined by 4.4%, while prices increased by 5.4%.
The data for the PHMI is taken solely from P&H specialists, including City Plumbing Supplies, James Hargreaves Plumbing Depot, Plumbfix, PTS, Williams & Co, and Wolseley, who form part of NiQ GfK’s Plumbing & Heating Merchants Panel, and there is no overlap or double counting between the PHMI and the BMF’s established Builders Merchants Building Index which analyses sales at generalist merchants.
