Home Improvement Retail Sales Rise 1%

[Tuesday, August 14, 2012]  Advance estimates for retail sales of home improvement products (NAICS 444 – Building Material & Garden Equipment & Supplies Dealers) rose one percent in July to $23.684 billion from $23.456 billion in June, according to a Census Bureau report released today. Sales were also up 1.0 percent from July 2011 levels. For the first seven months of the year total sales are up7.2 percent to $173.379 billion.

Estimates for all retail sales in July, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $403.9 billion, an increase of 0.8 percent from the previous month and 4.1 percent above July 2011. Total sales for the May through July 2012 period were up 4.3 percent from the same period a year ago. The May to June 2012 percent change was revised from -0.5 percent to -0.7%. Read More ...