“It was nice to see 2.4% sales growth during December against a challenging prior year, but that growth was helped by one more billing day than last year,” said Brian Loftus, HARDI’s macroeconomic and residential market analyst. “We estimate for the month sales would have declined by 2.3% with the same number of billing days.”

The monthly sales survey also calculates distributors’ Days Sales Outstanding, a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills. “The DSO for December was less than 39 days, which is close to the 38 days one year ago.” said Loftus. “The recent DSO for December is a bit quicker than the 43 days during December for 2021, 2022, and 2023,” he added.

“The modest sales growth is consistent with the depressed existing home sales, weak consumer confidence, and struggling ABI (architecture billings index),” said Loftus. “Hopefully inflationary pressure can ease this year and we can see some benefits from the six rate cuts.”

HARDI members do not receive financial compensation in exchange for monthly sales data and can discontinue participation in the survey 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.