The study indicated that timber frame was the fastest-paced sector of the UK housebuilding market and is gaining further share in 2018, with sales rising by £400m in recent years.

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Research pointed to timber frame reaching a critical mass in the next few years, with the technology increasingly being regarded as “mass market”, rather than “the other option”. 

The market has experienced profit growth in 2018, with timber-frame homes set to account for almost one-third of the homebuilding market in the next few years, according to MTW’s forecasts. 

“The government’s homebuilding fund is set to generate 150,000 new homes from SME housebuilders, with timber frame playing a very significant part in this growth,” said Mark Waddy, director at MTW.  

“This initiative – coupled with a rapid rise in overall housebuilding – has dampened housebuilders’ purchasing power, underpinning the timber-frame market’s profitability to some extent.”

The report also highlighted a number of threats to the timber-frame market.

One such concern is exposure to the risk of a slowdown in housebuilding growth impacting on the profitability of the timber-frame market.

MTW believes that this is likely to lead to a growing number of mergers and acquisitions in the next few years. 

Mark added: “The purchase of Scotframe by Saint Gobain in 2017 [suggests] that key players may increasingly seek to accelerate growth and protect margins through economies of scale and vertical integration in what may be an uncertain economy over the next few years.”