Quikrete Industry Dashboard - (Week 20, 2025)
A busy Week 20 of 2025 saw the release of the Census Bureau’s latest NAICS retail data, which showed consumers are still spending amid economic anxiety. As we shared earlier this week:
“April 2025's NAICS 444 sales, which include building material suppliers as well as garden equipment and supplies dealers, rose slightly year-over-year—and considerably month-over-month. Unadjusted April 2025 sales for NAICS 444 entities hit $45.374 billion, leaving March 2025's $39.798 billion tally in the dust. Year-over-year, April 2025's sales also beat April 2024's (unadjusted) sales of $44.528 billion.”
Hardware store sales, meanwhile, grew to $3.50 billion in March (the latest month data is available) compared to Feb. 2025's mark of $2.83 billion. On a year-over-year basis, hardware store sales are also up compared to sales of $3.25 billion in March 2024.
Fresh housing starts numbers also came out this week, and the data shows a mixed bag. Total starts exceeded 1.36 million units (a 1.6 percent lift over March), but single-family output (927,000) dropped 12 percent year-over-year (1,370,000 in April 2024). NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes explained:
“The decline in single-family housing starts in April mirrors builder sentiment, as elevated interest rates, uncertainty on the tariff front and rising construction costs are exacerbating housing affordability challenges. In turn, this is making it more difficult for builders to deliver entry-level housing at a price point that is accessible to home buyers.”
However, there is reason to hope, according to Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, NAHB’s assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis” “Recent developments on the tariff front concerning the United Kingdom and China along with major tax legislation advancing in Congress should provide a boost to housing demand and positive momentum for the economy.”
Regionally, there is some encouraging news as well. Month-over month, single-family starts rose in the Northeast (+13.8 percent), Midwest (+2.3 percent) and South (+1.9 percent), though the West dropped (-18.7 percent). Year-over-year, combined single- and multi-family starts jumped in the Northeast (+54.9 percent) and Midwest (+9.4 percent).
Also on the Dashboard, the nationwide average price for a gallon of gas now sits at $3.19. That’s a few cents up from last month’s average of $3.16, but pump prices remain much lower compared to last year's nationwide average of $3.60 in mid-May 2024, according to AAA's daily data.
California ($4.92), Hawaii ($4.49) and Washington ($4.34) once again have by far the highest average gas prices in the U.S., though Oregon ($3.96) and Nevada ($3.95) are creeping closer to the “$4-a-gallon” club. Meanwhile, Mississippi ($2.66), Tennessee ($2.71) and Louisiana ($2.73) have the cheapest average pump prices right now.
In building materials industry stock news, it was an encouraging week. Every stock on our list except Builders FirstSource (-0.2 percent) rose on a month-over-month basis, with Stanley Black & Decker (+20.1 percent), PPG (+14.2 percent) and Masco (+8.6 percent) seeing the biggest bumps. Year-over-year, however, just Home Depot (+13.2 percent) and Lowe’s (+2 percent) are rather than down.
See the up-to-the minute stock prices of 30 industry companies tracked by HBSDealer here.
