Consumers have spent like Crazy at Home Depot in 2020

The real estate market was one of the few bright spots for the US economy almost a year after closing the business. Home Depot has become one of its leading suppliers, accumulating Sales of $ 132 billion in 2020, an unprecedented figure.

Home Depot’s tax sales in the fourth quarter rose 25% as the housing improvement product chain continues to meet the demand of Americans trapped at home by the pandemic and students taking distance learning. Many families have come to the conclusion that bigger homes, or at least different houses, should be the answer in 2020, offering high house prices, making the real estate market look resilient.

On Tuesday, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, which tracks home prices in 20 U.S. cities, rose 10.1% in December from the same month last year. It surpassed the 9.2% jump from the previous month and all other months by almost seven years earlier.

While Home Depot was not the only supplier to meet the demand for hammers, paint or appliances that accompanied the housing boom, the total volume of goods it sold this year was staggering.

Trying to put that volume in context, Neil Saunders, CEO of GlobalData, estimates that in 2020 the equivalent of every person in the United States spent $ 402 on Home Depot.

“It’s easy to look at Home Depot numbers and attribute the pandemic to their success,” Saunders said Tuesday. “However, maintaining three quarters of growth above 20% is extremely difficult in terms of the pressure it exerts on the entire operation, from supply chains to stores.”

The chain increased its quarterly dividend by 10% to $ 1.65 per share. Revenues between October and December rose to $ 32.26 billion from $ 25.78 billion in the same quarter last year. The figure exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research, which forecasts $ 30.66 billion.

Sales at chain stores around the world have been open for at least a year – a key indicator of retail companies’ health – up 24.5%. As for stores in the United States, the number increased by 25%.