Still growing in Brunei

Financing for home improvement in Brunei hit multiyear lows in the second quarter of 2021, indicating weak demand for residential upgrades - even as loans for new housing peaked to a ten-year high.
Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) data show loans for structural home improvement and renovation totalled 405.49 mio Brunei dollars (BND, EUR 254.81 mio) during the period, the portfolio's lowest disbursement in four years.
The portfolio had been shrinking incrementally since the pandemic began: from BND 421.06 mio in the first quarter of 2020, it slid to BND 417.95 mio just after Covid-19 struck, then to BND 416.86 mio in the next quarter and BND 413.77 mio after that. During the second quarter of 2021, it totalled BND 405.49 mio.Lending for interior decorations proved even more anaemic, shrinking to BND 22.8 mio in the second quarter - its thinnest take-up in the ten-year history of BDCB.
Home improvement financing gauges appetite for residential enhancements in credit-reliant Brunei, where household loans constitute 54 per cent of domestic lending and general consumption debt takes up a staggering 91 per cent of personal loans.
Acknowledging a slack in demand for house fixing, David Lau, manager of home improvement retailer Good Home, said this was a short-term effect of the pandemic on do-it-yourself projects. "This is temporary because the DIY concept is still fresh in Brunei and it is still growing," he said.
He added pent-up demand would come once Covid-19 is controlled. "We still can see a great future for DIY because I am sure this concept will increase progressively and rapidly after the pandemic."

Vyron Khoo, owner of Bruneian fixtures, fittings and furnishings seller Nuhaus Enterprise, told DIY International labour shortage and costlier materials also affected home improvement in the predominantly do-it-for-me market. "Since the lockdown, all contractors have been hammered with the difficulty of workforce which in turn limits the number of projects that can be secured," he said. Brunei's labour force fell 1.66 per cent in 2020 due to an 18.3 per cent drop in foreign workers stemming from entry limits. The country closed its borders to non-Bruneians in March 2020 and has not reopened them since.
Meanwhile, workers' salaries…