COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing average sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 11.7 percent in February 2016.

The annualized growth for the 12 months through February 2016 was 6.2 percent. This is the highest the annualized pace has been since last September’s 6.3 percent.

“The strong performance was driven by warmer temperatures that allowed construction activity to proceed without interruption, and thanks to the leap day this February had one extra billing day than last year’s,” said HARDI Market Research and Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. “It is an impressive report when several regions experience month-to month sales growth of more than 20 percent, but they had easy comparisons and February contributes the lowest share of annual revenues for HARDI distributors.”

“The mild winter weather in February across much of the country appears to have been the catalyst for impressive year-over-year growth in February,” said Connor Lokar, senior economist for HARDI. “Housing Starts in February experienced the strongest month-over-month growth in over two years and we are seeing improvement in other indicators.”

The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, is now 47.5. “The February DSO was 50 in 2014 and 2015,” said Loftus. “This is an encouraging indicator for the underlying health of the market. Customers are exhibiting no stress to meet their obligations while sales activity is brisk.”

HARDI members do not receive financial compensation in exchange for their monthly sales data and can discontinue their participation without prior notice or penalty. Participation is voluntary, and the depth of market coverage varies from region to region. An independent entity collects and compiles the data that can include products not directly associated with the HVACR industry.