Are Minnesotan’s Hitting Pause on Home Improvements?

There are a lot of people out there who would like to buy a house that are holding off because home prices have been through the roof for the last couple of years, and interest rates haven’t been friendly lately either.  

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There are also a lot of people who would like to sell their current home to go bigger or smaller, but with the prices and rates out of whack they are also in a holding pattern. 

I know a few folks in that situation who have decided to upgrade their home to either be more comfortable since they're going to be there a while, or to make it more marketable when the housing situation becomes more appealing. 

But according to a report I saw this week, folks working on their homes are also taking a hit right now. According to the Morning Brew “Do It Yourselfers” are not doing too much lately. The inspiration for the article was that last quarter's sales figures from Lowes and Home Depot. 

Both nationwide home improvement companies report declining sales in the last four months. Lowes says their same store sales fell 5.1% from the same quarter last year. And they are expecting as much as 4% drop for the entire year. 

Similar numbers are being reported from their competition, Home Depot. They also expect their yearly sales to be down as much as 4%. That’s considerably more than the 1% the company was forecasting.  

Both companies have stated publicly that they feel interest rates have a direct impact on the do-it-yourself industry being somewhat lackluster.  

Obviously these two companies aren't the only ones feeling the impact of the interest rates, The Morning Brew cites online retailer Wayfair saying recently their furniture sales have hit lows that are compared to the financial landscape of 2008.  

Not everyone reported a downturn of luck in the second quarter, Wal-Mart reportedly had a banner second quarter, indicating that consumers are looking for bargain options for their spending.