Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing sales by HARDI distributors increased by 4.1% during May 2024.

 The annual sales growth for the 12 months through May 2024 is an increase of 1.3%. 

“While the national sales growth for the month was 4.1%, there was a lot of variation across the country,” said HARDI Macroeconomic and Residential Market Analyst Brian Loftus.  “The sales performance ranged from a decline of 2.5% in the central region where cooling degree days were 28% below normal to an increase of 10.6% in the Southeast region where there were 31% more cooling degree days than normal.”

The Days Sales Outstanding, a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, was near 40 days during May. “The 40-day DSO for May this year is consistent with May during the prior three post-Covid years,” Loftus said. “After a couple years of higher interest rates and weaker demand in the marketplace, it is encouraging to see the DSO remaining stable at this stage of the cycle.

“The modest flat/up results so far this year are consistent with our expectations that 2024 is the bottom of this cycle. Looking forward we expect the growing number of home listings will have a positive influence on the number of existing home sales, and we are one month closer to lower rates that will also help end market demand.  We believe that annual sales growth rate line has bottomed.”

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 that can include products not directly associated with the HVACR industry.