Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International  (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing sales by HARDI distributors increased by 14.2% during December 2024.

The annual sales growth for the 12 months through December 2024 is an increase of 3.9%.

“Fourteen percent sales growth during December was the best growth rate of the year, but there were some unusual factors behind that performance,” said HARDI Macroeconomic and Residential Market Analyst Brian Loftus. “Sales were off by almost 8% during December of 2023, so this year had a very easy comparison, and an extra selling day to compare to that soft prior year. We estimate the sales growth would have been 8.8% with the same number of billing days.

"The monthly sales survey also calculates distributor’s Days Sales Outstanding, a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills. DSO ends the year near 38 days versus 43 days during the past couple of Decembers. The DSO is not indicating any signs of financial stress by the customers.”

Another wrinkle in December’s results, Loftus said, could have been the equipment changeover.

“Inventories in the channel swelled during the back-half of the year," he said. "The frothy sales this month allowed the sales-to-inventory ratio recovery to resume. It looks like the post-Covid industry normalization is back on track.”

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.