Following a period of good annual growth of 6-7% between 2006-08, the UK garden rooms and buildings market fared less favourably in 2009 due to difficult economic conditions and falling numbers of housing transactions. Despite the relative immaturity of the market, it fell by 8% in value. Hardest hit was the lower end of the market, particularly log cabins, and the very high premium and luxury end for timber framed buildings and ‘other’ garden buildings. Although modular garden rooms also declined, the sector performed better than other products as the number of homeworkers increased. Volumes also fell, although by a lower amount. Log cabins continue to lose market share in favour of more up-market modular garden rooms.

The market for garden rooms and buildings was worth an estimated £110m at retail selling prices in 2010, including value added services, e.g. installation. This was 14% down on the previous year. By mid-2011, the forecasts are that the market would be down about 5% further to around £105m in 2011.

The main reason for installing a garden room or building is to increase the amount of living space for a householder. The key market benefits of installing a garden building as opposed to other options, e.g. extension or conservatory, include the faster speed of installation, the general absence of planning permission, lower cost and minimal disruption to the customer.

There are 3 main types of garden buildings: modular garden rooms, accounting for 43% by value, log cabins at 32% and timber framed buildings at 24%. However, by volume log cabins are the largest market estimated at 77%. As the market has developed, there has been an increase in the choice of roof finishes available, e.g. EPDM and the provision of different colours, as well as a trend to different shaped garden buildings. Homeworking has increased in popularity in recent years and this has contributed to sales of garden buildings.

Garden rooms and buildings are distributed through a range of different channels including DIY outlets and builders merchants, online, by mail order and through garden centres. More manufacturers are selling direct via their own websites. There is a diverse range of large and small manufacturers including subsidiaries of large European groups, medium-sized UK companies and family businesses. Log cabins are usually sold as self-assembly, but other garden buildings such as modular garden rooms and timber framed buildings tend to be sold with installation included. Higher value modular garden rooms and timber framed buildings are expected to see higher growth at the expense of log cabins. Since these products usually include installation and other added value services within their price, the market will be positively affected by these changes.

While 2011 is set to be a difficult year, future prospects for the market are more favourable in 2012 as the economy and the sector come out of recession and start to return to growth. The volume of units sold is estimated to increase at a lower rate than the increase in the value of the market to reach approximately 31 – 32,000 units in 2015. This trend is expected to continue in the medium to long term due to growth at the premium end of the market and the increased share of modular and timber framed garden buildings at the expense of lower value log cabins.