As growth in retail sales slowed across the Australian economy in the fourth quarter of 2014, key industries from the forestry and wood products sector’s perspective grew more strongly, continuing a trend that has been prevalent for more than a year. The key Hardware, Building and Garden Supplies sector has regularly recorded more than double the growth in retail sales of the all industries figure.
The chart from the FWPA Data Dashboard shows the experience of the all industries sector, the Hardware, Building and Garden Supplies category and Furniture, Floor Coverings and Homewares category.
For the year to the end of January 2015, retail sales in all industries grew at 3.46% and are demonstrably trending down. For the Hardware, Building and Garden Supplies category, over the same period, retail sales growth was 7.70%, more than double the average, but is quite choppy.
More stable, somewhat softer, but still strong, Furniture, Floor Coverings & Homewares category retail sales grew 6.15% over the year to the end of January 2015.
Correlating this lagging data (its hard to put furniture into houses that are not yet built) with the latest residential dwelling approvals suggests that there is more strength to come as more residential dwellings come on line.
For further details, go to the FWPA Data Dashboard.
