November distributor sales dip on ‘slow start’ to heating season

HARDI on Tuesday released its monthly TRENDS report — a survey of its distributor members — showing that sales in November 2025 fell 2.9 percent year-over-year.

What’s happening: “Heating season is off to a slow start with the 1% sales decline during October and then a 2.9% decline during November,” HARDI analyst Brian Loftus said in a Tuesday statement.

• “October was a difficult comparison, and November had one less billing day [than in 2024],” he added. “We estimate there was sales growth of 2.3% during November [with the same number of billing days].”

Between the lines: Days Sales Outstanding — a measure of how quickly contractors pay their bills — was less than 40 days during the month, essentially the same as a year ago. 

• “While the recent sales results may raise concerns about the market health, we are pleased to see the DSO remains steady at a healthy rate,” Loftus said. 

The big picture: HARDI distributors’ annual sales growth, which compares the most recent 12-month period to the prior 12 months, remained near four percent through November, after price increases of about five percent, the association noted.

• “Unit demand has been flat-to-down this year along with flat existing home sales and an uncooperative cooling season in much of the country,” Loftus added.