Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing sales by HARDI distributors increased by 6.7% during July 2026.

The annual sales growth for the 12 months through July 2026 is an increase of 2.7%.

“The 6.7% sales growth during July is the best monthly gain of the year, when comparing growth with the same number of billing days,” said Brian Loftus, senior market analyst at HARDI.  “The good report is not telling us much about the market. The strongest regions had the biggest cooling degree day increases, and the weakest regions had big cooling degree day declines.”  

HARDI’s monthly distributor sales survey also calculates Days Sales Outstanding or DSO which is a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills. The DSO for July 2026 was less than 37 days and comparable to July 2025. “End market demand has been subdued for more than two years. The steady DSO indicates the market is not deteriorating.”

 “The housing market has been depressed, like consumer sentiment which is under pressure from stubborn inflation,” Loftus said. “The market is due for a change. We would have more confidence that signs of improvement could endure if inflation and interest rates would subside.”