CEO Marvin Ellison painted a muted picture for home sales despite double‑digit revenue growth
Lowe’s chief executive Marvin Ellison offered a stark assessment of the US housing backdrop even as the home‑improvement giant reported more than 10% year‑over‑year sales growth and beat Wall Street expectations for its latest quarter.
Elevated mortgage rates, he suggested, continued to freeze would‑be movers in place and delay the next wave of renovation spending.
Housing market ‘still without a tailwind’
Ellison described a market where higher inflation, economic uncertainty and expensive mortgages combined into what he called a consumer “lock‑in effect,” as owners cling to ultra‑low rates instead of trading up or down.
The company, he said, is “still dealing with a housing market that does not have a lot of tailwind,” with slower home sales and shifting tariff policies making the outlook “very fluid and very unpredictable.”
“For us, the greatest fuel for the home improvement industry is when you decide to put your house on the market,” Ellison said in a CNBC interview.
“Because the first thing you do when you put it on the market is you fix up your yard, you repair your fence, you paint your walls.”
He added that two catalysts could “meaningfully move the needle” for housing‑linked spending: a pickup in transactions or a renewed willingness to draw on home equity lines of credit to fund projects such as kitchen remodels and basement finishes.
Muted demand, cautious consumers
Lowe’s projected roughly flat demand for the broader home‑improvement sector this year, assuming it could outperform a sluggish market. That read‑through alignes with wider US mortgage data pointing to a market treading water rather than turning a corner, with purchase volumes subdued but refinance and HELOC activity edging higher as owners tap equity rather than move.
Ellison argued that as more homeowners accept they will not give up “this two and a half percent mortgage rate,” they would eventually “start investing in their home at some point.”
The retailer posted fourth‑quarter revenue of $20.58 billion, ahead of analyst forecasts, with comparable sales up 1.3% and nine of 14 merchandising categories in growth, led by pro‑oriented lines and paint.
However, shares fell more than 4% after Lowe’s guided to full‑year sales of $92 billion to $94 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $12.25 to $12.75, short of consensus.
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