Home Depot and Lowe's Companies on the Housing Market

The U.S. housing market has unquestionably had a weak start to the year, and there is no shortage of top-down analysis on where the market is headed. Analyzing the macro-economic climate is one thing, but investors can also get a good view from what Home Depot and Lowe's Companies are saying.

What's going wrong?
Essentially, many are concerned a combination of rising mortgage rates and insufficient inventory are holding back housing turnover. Indeed, house price growth appears to have stalled since September 2013.

Source: S & P/Case Shiller

The question now is whether the housing market is going to stall, or if employment gains and an increase in credit availability (which would help counter any affordability issues) will push the housing market higher.

Evidence from Home Depot and Lowe's indicates that the underlying picture in the housing market is stronger than what the headline data suggested in the first quarter.

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