“Nine percent sales growth is a nice change from the 7% decline during December,” said Brian Loftus, HARDI’s macroeconomic and residential market analyst, in a press release. “The growth this month was helped by an extra billing day versus last year. With the same number of billing days we estimate the sales growth was closer to 4%.”

The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, was near 42 days during January. “We hear of additional stress in the marketplace, but there is not enough to inflame the Days Sales Outstanding for the industry,” said Loftus. “The January 2024 DSO was a bit better than January of 2023 and January of 2022. The performance is impressive after the rapid increase in rates and market adjustment during the past year.

“It looks like we are in a different world now, with no sales growth after 20% annual sales gains not that long ago,” continued Loftus. “This is just the next phase of the normalization process. We expect to be back in normal growth territory during the back half of this year.”

HARDI members do not receive financial compensation in exchange for their monthly sales data and can discontinue their participation without prior notice or penalty. Participation is voluntary, and the depth of market coverage varies from region to region. An independent entity collects and compiles the data, which can include sales information about products not directly associated with the HVACR industry.