PORTLAND, ME – BlueTarp Financial – the leading credit management company for B2B suppliers – released its Q2 2019 Building Supply Index. The Q2 2019 unadjusted view marginally declined from 139.06 in Q2 2018 to 137.20 and the trailing 12-month average has been flat, to slightly down, since peaking in Q3 2018.
In BlueTarp’s supplemental contractor survey, nearly 25% of contractors thought that the economy would decline in some way within the next 12 months, an increase from 16.3% last quarter. Respondents cited the 2020 election as one of the causes of greater uncertainty.
“Just like the macro drivers, contractor sentiment is strong overall but increasingly jittery,” said Scott Simpson, CEO of BlueTarp. “The escalation, of US-China trade tensions, suggests a real threat to continued economic expansion. We’ll see more pronounced pessimism in next quarter’s survey if this continues or escalates even further. The 2020 election cycle introduces yet another variable, too.”
To interpret the Index, values below 100 reflect recessionary or recovering performance. Values above 100 reflect healthy economic activity.
The report represents trends from 120,000 pro customers and over 1,000 active building material suppliers across the United States. It also incorporates macro-economic drivers including building permits, construction spend, and consumer confidence as reported monthly by the Census Bureau and The Conference Board.
Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association has provided legislative advocacy, education, and leadership development for the lumber and building materials industry since 1891. We serve Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. To learn more, visit https://mslbmda.org.