Prices for new pets are slowing down in the UK but still far from pre-pandemic levels
A new study from UK marketplace Pets4Homes has revealed that demand for new pets on their platform has decreased by 42% in a year.
As of April 2022, 3.5 million households in the UK searched for a pet online, whereas in the same period last year it was 4.4 million.
Demand for pets has now reverted to pre-pandemic levels and this trend is expected to continue, according to Pets4Homes.
The London-based company does not expect growth in demand this year and believes prices will fall further as the gap between the number of available animals and the demand is shrinking.
Interest in rabbits more than doubled
Dogs remain the most popular pet of 2022, attracting 63% of all pet buyers on the platform (+2%). They are followed by cats at 15% (-5%), rodents at 4.5%, and birds at 4%.
The sale of rabbits has seen the most significant relative increase over 2021, growing by 108%.
The number of first-time breeders in 2021 was 40%, but the amount dropped to 31% in 2022, according to Pets4Homes.
Price trend
The amount that pet parents need to pay for a new animal increased sharply in one year, partly due to the lower number of offers.
The price for adopting a new dog more than doubled in the last 12 months, from ££876 (€1,016 / $1,078) to £2,237 (€2,594 / $2,753).
But prices are coming down, however, with a slow return to a new ‘normal’: in April 2022, the average dog/puppy price was £1,329 (€1,541 / $ 1,635), according to the marketplace.
Cat buyers are seeing similar decreases in price across the top 20 most popular breeds, and can expect to pay around 20% less than in 2021.
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