The House Hype lives on: Home Depot's killer earnings reveal something else, too
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Still retiling the bathroom... When lockdowns hit last March, Americans shifted their spending from restaurants and clothes to the only place that mattered: home. People re-painted kitchens, and bought enough scented candles to light a small town. We thought the DIY House Hype might start slowing down last May. A year later, the House Hype is going stronger than ever.
- Wild: Home Depot's sales soared 33% last quarter to $37.5B. For reference: Home Depot's quarterly sales growth for the same quarter in 2019 and 2018 was ~5%. Oh, and profit nearly doubled.
- Lowe's sales jumped 24% on the continued home improvement hype.
"I was lightning, before the lumber"... If Imagine Dragons wrote a home improvement song. Home Depot says there's a "storm environment" for lumber right now. That's partly thanks to the housing market boom and a reopening-driven building frenzy. Zillow-scrolling just got pricier...
- Wild stat: Lumber prices have more than 4X'd in the past year. The surge has added $36K to the price of an average new single-family home.
- Soaring lumber demand boosted Home Depot's sales, both to professionals (think: contractors) and DIY customers (think: Uncle Bobby).
"Homevesting" has arrived... The initial House Hype was driven by spending to make our 24/7 biodomes more enjoyable. You had to stare at the bedroom wall all day, so you painted it pastel blue. As the US reopens, we're seeing a different kind of spending: "Homevesting." Home sales are hitting 15-year highs, so prices are soaring. Now, people are investing to level-up their precious homevestments. Home Depot's CEO thinks that's a great sign for the home improvement industry looking ahead.