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The sharp decline in the U.S. housing market caught up with kitchen and bath product manufacturers and marketers in the first half of 2023. Dollar manufacturer sales (shipments minus exports plus imports) could have declined by 5.6 percent in the first half. Unit sales declined about 2.0 percent in the first half. Price increases, however, moderated along with inflationary pressures. The dollar sales decline this year compared to a 10.8 percent gain for all of 2022. First half 2023 sales declined along with the drop in new home construction and existing home sales as the Federal Reserve increased interest rates. Rising rates caused housing demand – new and existing – to drop sharper over the past year. Read More

After a robust year in 2021, 2022 was a tough year for soft surface flooring. Carpet and area rug sales could have declined by 2.6 percent in dollars and 11.1 percent in square feet in 2022, pushing sales down to $12.7 billion and 11.5 billion square feet, according to Catalina Research. Read More

Laminate dollar, square footage sales see uptick Although square footage sales were somewhat sluggish in contrast to the previous couple of years, the laminate flooring category benefited from rising prices as well as product innovation in 2022. According to Catalina Research, laminate flooring sales could have increased by 9.7 percent to $1.2 billion, while square footage sales ticked up by 0.3 percent to 978 million. Read More

According to Catalina Research, total dollar sales for ceramic and porcelain tile in 2022 could have increased by 14.2 percent compared to the previous year. Aside from LVT, tile is the only category to see double digit gains from 2021. Catalina Research estimated that tile accounted for 12.1 percent of all floor covering sales in 2022, earning approximately $4.8 billion in sales. The natural stone category too saw growth this year and earned $2.1 billion in sales, Catalina reported Read More

At first glance, the hardwood numbers in this year’s Catalina Report appear to indicate a softening in the wood market, with square footage sales declining a reported 4.5 percent to 1.6 billion in 2022 despite dollar sales increasing 7.3 percent to $4.6 billion. Read More

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

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

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

In 2022, U.S. floor coverings sales slowed considerably from the sharp gains experienced in 2021, according to Catalina Research. The year started strong since flooring sales were still benefiting from the surge in housing demand in 2021. Floor covering sales growth weakened in the second half as the Federal Reserve sharply increased interest rates to curb inflationary pressures. Rising interest rates caused housing starts and existing home sales — the primary drivers of U.S. floor coverings sales — to decline sharply. At the same time, inflationary pressures and supply chain issues caused flooring prices and installation costs to surge. The rising cost of an installed floor resulted in customer purchases slowing at an even sharper rate than manufacturer sales. Read More

U.S. hard-surface imports finally crossed over the “400” bar in May, with the $425.2 million in customs value showing a 16.2% increase from April. However, the total is still more than 13% behind the $490.8 million of May 2022. Read More