Articles

As the industry growth leader for several years now, resilient flooring’s sales continued its upward trajectory in 2022. The category was further innovated with new technology during the pandemic and, as consumers remodeled their homes, resilient was in high demand because of its easy installation and DIY capabilities. As well, advancements in technology and design along with its price point continued to resonate with consumers, making the luxury vinyl tile (LVT) category specifically the second largest flooring segment after carpet at 28 percent of total dollar sales. Read More

Personal income increased $69.5 billion (0.3 percent at a monthly rate) in June. Read More

Mohawk Industries announced Q2 2023 net sales of $2.95 billion, a 6.4% decrease from Q2 2022’s $3.15 billion. Read More

Yesterday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced another quarter-point hike to try to temper inflation, bringing interest rates into the 5.25%–5.50% range for the first time since January 2001. Read More

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the second quarter of 2023, according to the "advance" estimate. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.0 percent. Read More

2023 started as simply an extension of 2022. The industry could do no wrong. And then the industry had no answers for fixing how wrong the industry was. For the first time in years, the sales at manufacturing were not the perfect barometer as to how retailers did. Thousands of shipping containers stuck offshore in 2022 were finally delivered just as demand slowed down. Distributors who had been chasing stellar sales with built up inventory suddenly found themselves with way too much inventory for the second half of the year. Read More

Sales of new single‐family houses in June 2023 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 697,000, according to the most recent estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Read More

Since the beginning of 2020, residential rents are up by almost 25 percent nationally while home prices have climbed almost 40 percent. However, this year has seen a slowdown in both the for-sale and rental markets as higher mortgage rates coupled with elevated house prices and rents have caused housing demand to soften. As a result, rent growth has significantly slowed in most markets over the past year and home prices have declined in a growing number of areas. Still, even with the growing concern over housing affordability, any market slowdown will be muted given the nationwide housing shortage resulting from years of underproduction. Read More

At 3.6%, the national unemployment rate for June 2023 changed little month over month and was the same as in June 2022, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read More

U.S. floor coverings manufacturer sales (shipments minus exports plus imports) declined sharply in the first half of 2023 as final demand dropped and distributors and retailers worked off excess inventories accumulated in the second half of 2022. Manufacturers are also working through supply chain issues which significantly cut into import shipments. In addition, price increases leveled off as demand slumped and material cost pressures subsided. Catalina, however, sees the decline in manufacturer sales bottoming out in the third quarter of 2023 and could begin to recover in the fourth quarter as the inventory liquidation ends. Manufacturer sales could turn up by the fourth quarter as the drop in new home construction levels off, the decline in existing home sales slows, and commercial demand remains strong. Read More