COLUMBUS, Ohio — Average sales performance by Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) increased 24.8% in August, according to the association’s monthly TRENDS report.

The average annual sales growth for the 12 months through August 2022 is 24.2% percent.

“The August sales growth was helped by an extra billing day,” said Brian Loftus, market research and benchmarking analyst, HARDI. “We estimate the sales growth would have been closer to 19% with the same number of billing days. This sales growth is helped by passing through price increases of more than 20%. Those increases have also been supporting the annual growth rate that has been steady near this pace for nine months.”

The Days Sales Outstanding, a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, remains at 40 days as of August 2022. 

“The August DSO pre-COVID was more than 44 days,” said Loftus. “The DSO has been lower post-COVID, but we expect this to return to the pre-COVID levels.” 

The year-to-year DSO has increased slightly for two consecutive months.  

Consumer Sentiment, an important indicator of demand for HARDI member products and services, has bounced off the recent lows, but remains in bearish territory.  

“After home prices have increased by 40% during the past two years, mortgage rates have doubled, which is an additional challenge for buyers,” said Loftus.  “Now home prices are rolling over and that will be an additional burden for Consumer Sentiment.”