Good news for US Housing Economy
Good news for US Housing Economy. Home Depot, the US’s largest home improvement store announced on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016 it’s earnings before the opening of the market. The Company beat expectations; rising 8.9% in the fourth quarter. The company also raised dividend and announced that sales will increase 5.1 – 6% in 2016. Home Depot has long thought to be the barometer for the market conditions of US housing and consumer.
(chart from Rob Wilson of Tiburon Research Group showing Home Depot’s Operating Margin %)
Also according to the home price data from the Case-Shiller report, home prices rose 0.8% in December from November and 5.74% year-over-year. These increases were slightly below expectations but showed continued improvement in home prices. The January report on existing-home sales, which was expected to show the pace of sales declining 2.5% after December’s report showed the largest-ever increase of 14.7%, beat expectations as sales rose 0.4% in January.
The nations leading luxury home builder Toll Brothers also reported that it had topped expectations with revenue totaling $928.6 million for the first fiscal quarter of 2016. Beating expectations of $910.8 million. All these are welcoming indicators that Main Street economy is doing just fine despite the recent turmoil on Wall Street.