The main reason for the growth is the realization of the demand of the population for the increase in quality of life, experts say. Since 2017, Russians budget on household goods, repairs and furniture increased by 2.8 times. This was announced in a press release by analysts at MTS Bank.
When analyzing expenses, data were processed on payment transactions of the bank’s customers in May-June 2017–2019 in specialized household goods stores, as well as in IKEA, Leroy Merlin, OBI, Hoff, Tvoy Dom, Castorama, Moskhoztorg, Stolplit, Ascona. In May-June 2017, the cost of household goods, repairs, and furniture amounted to 136.9 million rubles (69 thousand operations), in May-June 2018 increased by 57%, to 215.3 million rubles (115 thousand operations), for the same period of 2019 – already by 77%, up to 380.3 million rubles (185 thousand operations). The increase in purchases does not depend on seasonality, the press release said.
The second place in terms of cost growth (+ 66%) is construction materials. In May-June 2017, the bank’s customers spent 109.4 million rubles in this category (63 thousand operations), and in May-June 2018, it was already 39% more – 151.5 million rubles (94 thousand operations). Over the same period of 2019, the growth rate of expenses for building materials year-on-year slowed to 20%, amounting to 181.8 million rubles (almost 112 thousand operations), analysts specify.
The main reasons for the significant increase in spending on furniture, household goods, and building materials are the realization of the pent-up demand of the population for the improvement of everyday life and improvement of housing conditions. The growth in spending on household goods and repairs was also aided by the mortgage boom of recent years, caused by lower interest rates, explained in a press release.
The demand for goods for the summer cottage industry fell five times over three years. In May-June 2017, the Russians spent 100.9 million rubles on garden tools, seedlings, seeds, and fertilizers (44 thousand operations), for the same period of 2018, a decrease of 23% was already observed, up to 78.1 million rubles (38 thousand operations). In May-June 2019, there was a collapse of 3.6 times year-on-year, up to 21.6 million rubles (16 thousand operations), experts found.
The drop in sales of garden supplies is due to a number of factors. Since 2017, due to the need to draw up documents for land plots, the growth of land tax rates and the general costs of maintaining a summer cottage economy, the demand for garden and cottage plots has more than doubled. A generation of holiday home supporters is aging, and young people prefer other leisure activities, the report said.
The Russians spend the least on repairs among residents of other countries. This was previously reported by specialists of the portal about the repair and interior design of Houzz, who conducted an international survey.
