"But housing turnover is only part of the picture. A large piece of the home improvement market involves maintenance and repairs as well as improvements to homes where there is no change in ownership. This makes the home improvement industry far less cyclical than new home construction."

Even the most current data points to the continual health of the home improvement industry. In recently released data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, December retail sales for building material and garden equipment/supply dealers grew 9.7 percent over the same period in the prior year. This growth was significantly above retailing in general.

Continued hurricane rebuilding efforts will also help to offset the effects of a market slowdown well into 2006. In particular, the professional market, stimulated by the repair and rebuilding efforts, was up by 8.4 percent for 2005, outperforming consumer market sales.

The long-term outlook for the market remains strong. Global Insight projects an average of 4.6 percent total market growth in constant dollars for 2008 through 2010 - below the pace of the past five years, but well ahead of the rate of overall economic growth.

The Home Improvement Research Institute is a membership-based, independent, nonprofit organization of manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers and allied organizations in the home improvement industry. Its mission is to be recognized as the primary authority for effective, useful information about home improvement products and services in North America. The membership of HIRI currently represents over 70 of the leading firms in the industry.

Publication date: 02/27/2006