“In the big markets, the sub-prime lending business got ahead of itself,” Hylbert said. ![]() He explained that major markets like Chicago and California have suffered the brunt of the downturn with single-family permits off about 30 percent, while the small to medium markets have held up better (permits down 5 to 6 percent). ![]() The Denver-based group of pro dealers showed a 29.3 percent increase largely because of a number of acquisitions the company made in 2006. “It’s certainly not what it was a year ago,” said Paul Hylbert, CEO of Pro-Build Holdings, which ranks seventh on the scoreboard. That slower rate of growth reflects the challenges faced by the nation’s largest home builders. Pro dealers were up 6.4 percent in 2006, compared to a 12 percent gain the previous year. Robert Niblock, Lowe’s chairman and CEO, pointed to “multiple factors, including a difficult housing market in many areas, tough comparisons to hurricane rebuilding efforts and significant lumber and plywood price deflation.” Lowe’s, too, last month reported a 2.1 percent gain in first-quarter sales and a same-store sales decline of 6.3 percent. He added: “2007 will also be a difficult year.” “We faced a difficult market, and we also had a lot of additional noise around our business,” said CEO Frank Blake at the Merrill Lynch 30th Annual Retailing Leaders Conference last month. Despite double digit declines in year-over-year housing starts, many are encouraged by low unemployment and the prospect of remodeling-related spending, among other factors.Įxecutives at Home Depot, the $90.1 billion home channel gorilla, aren’t sugar coating their description of market conditions. Many of the companies on the Top 500 have seen slowdowns before. The trouble started in the second half of the year and has extended into 2007 as housing starts have declined, especially in most major markets. For instance, only 184 of the 500 companies on this year’s list reported sales growth-down considerably from 381 in 2005, and 404 in 2004. The sluggish nature of the housing market in 2006 was reflected in several statistical categories for the Top 500 retailers, a list that also includes lumberyards, paint companies, floor-covering dealers and other home channel retailers. The slowest growth occurred among non-lumber building material dealers, up 3.3 percent compared to the prior-year list. In fact, all nine categories showed statistical gains, despite a widely felt and heavily reported slowdown in the housing market.Ī category new to the scoreboard-farm and fleet-led the way with a 10.2 percent increase, followed closely by the home center category, up 9.9 percent. Ared letter year, it wasn’t-but total home channel sales on the HCN Top 500 Scoreboard still rose a solid 8 percent in 2006.
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