Here’s positive news: orders are up
A recent presentation hosted by the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association gave a platform for a pair of seasoned industry analysts to share their observations on the state of the building supply industry.
One finding: orders are up.
In the month of April, 60 percent of dealers reported orders were accelerating month over month, according to data presented by Matt Saunders, senior vice president, building products research for John Burns Research and Consulting. That figure is the highest April reading in two years.
What’s more, only 3 percent of dealers reported that orders were decelerating. That’s a far cry from April 2023 and April 2022, when a respective 32 percent and 31 percent of dealers reported decelerating building material orders.
Saunders presented in concert with Chris Beard, JBREC vice president of building products research. Beard leads the monthly Dealer Survey and works closely with LBM dealers from around the country in understanding demand and pricing for building products with distribution. He also leads a quarterly survey of structural component manufacturers and monitors public building products companies’ earnings.
The research firm’s survey of dealers found strong year-over-year order growth across most building product categories—with the total building materials growth figure at 8 percent. The lone exception: insulation, down 4 percent year over year.
Year over year order growth for lumber is accelerating, Saunders said, as single-family residential construction picks up. And he expects orders to pick up for insulation, as more homes started earlier in the year "move through the build process," he said.
The webinar was presented by the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, which will co-host with HBSDealer the upcoming ProDealer Industry Summit in Savannah, Georgia, Oct. 9-11. At the event, Saunders and Beard will deliver a detailed U.S. Housing Market Outlook and State of the Industry Report.
