Mixed results for NAICS 444 sales
Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers — a group also known as NAICS 444 as categorized by the U.S. Census Bureau—generated an unadjusted $43.741 billion in sales in the month of June, according to the Advanced Monthly Sales estimate from the bureau.
That figure is down 9.7 percent from May of 2024, and down 5.6 percent from June a year ago.
June 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $704.3 billion, virtually unchanged from the previous month, but up 2.3 percent above June 2023.
The National Retail Federation said it didn’t quite know what to make of the Census Bureau data.
“The path of household spending remains difficult to read,” Kleinhenz said. “Spending has been uneven but remains in good condition notwithstanding the slower pace of payrolls, subdued consumer confidence and price deflation for retail goods. Looking ahead, we expect consumer spending trends to continue even though they will likely be tempered by softening of employment and income growth. Still-high interest rates are making purchases on credit more expensive and have discouraged new borrowing.”
Retail trade sales were down 0.1 percent from May 2024, but up 2.0 percent above last year.
Nonstore retailers were up 8.9 percent from last year.
June’s core retail sales as defined by NRF — based on the Census data but excluding automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants — were up 0.9% seasonally adjusted month over month and up 1.3% unadjusted year over year. Core retail sales were up 3.2% year-over-year for the first six months of the year, in line with NRF’s forecast for 2024 retail sales to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% over 2023.
