Sector Overview: US Home and Home Improvement Retailers — Mixed Signals in a Time of Bounty

Executive Summary

Each of our Sector Overview reports provides an essential briefing on a sector or market. Themes in U.S. home and home improvement include:

• Interest rates remain on the rise.
• U.S. consumer confidence appears to have peaked.
• Consumer spending preferences are still directed at home improvement.
• Data on housing permits, starts and completions are mixed but remain high.
• U.S. existing home sales growth is slowing at a faster pace.
• U.S. home prices are up 5% year to date through November 2018, based on the S&P/Case-Shiller index.
• Lowe’s senior management changes and reboot promise operational improvements and modernization at the company.
• RH is positioning itself as much more than just a hardware store; calling its stores “galleries” and seeing itself building a luxury platform and brand with a “discerning level of taste.”