Revolut, an online banking firm, confirms a surge in spending on trade contractors in Ireland by 30 per cent in Q3. Its 2.8 million customers in Ireland display a general increase in expenditure within the home improvements sector. Of interest is a 22 per cent spending spike on architects and surveyors during Q3, up from Q2, and a 19 per cent upswing in plumbing and heating expenses, as well as a 33 per cent leap within carpentry during the same quarter.
A boost in the expenditure on appliances and home furnishings, both marked at 22 per cent, was also recorded. Over one fifth of customers who procured a loan from Revolut have home improvement as their investment plan. In contrast, the firm insights a 4 per cent month-on-month increase in applications for home improvement loans. Maurice Murphy, Revolut’s lending manager, divulges that an increasing number of customers in Ireland are focusing their capital on home refurbishments or expansions.
In an independent survey supervised by research firm Dynata for Revolut, 18 per cent of participants specified home remodelling as a reason to apply for a loan. This survey involved a thousand participants from across Irish counties. Meanwhile, the residential property price index from CSO has been on an upward trajectory since posting a record low of 165.9 on the index in May 2023, with a 10.1 per cent increase over the 12 months to August this year.