COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) announced average U.S. HVACR distributor sales declined 4.7 percent in September. The weakness is widespread, as evidenced in HARDI’s Monthly Targeted and Regional Economic News for Distribution Strategies (TRENDS) report. Difficult comparisons may account for double-digit sales declines in two of the regions, but two of the seven regions experienced high single-digit declines, and two of the other regions were about flat year-to-year. The West was the sole positive region with respectable mid-single digit growth.
September’s distributor performance is similar to what HARDI’s economist Andrew Duguay has been observing from consumers and business.