HVACR distributors that are members of Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) reported a 2.1% decline in sales in May 2025, an expected drop which follows gains of 6.8% in April and 7.1% in March.

“A sales decline during May is not unexpected since the cooling degree days were off by 25% from last year,” HARDI Macroeconomic and Residential Market Analyst Brian Loftus said in a July 2 news release. “Another drag on the sales growth was this May had one less billing day than May of 2024. With the same number of billing days, we estimate the sales growth was better than 2.5%.”

The annual sales growth for the 12 months through May 2025 is an increase of 3.9%.

The monthly sales survey also calculates distributors’ Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills.

“The DSO turned at 37 days during May of 2025 after being close to 40 days for the month from 2021 through 2024,” Loftus said.

The underlying trend of the HARDI distributor sales growth during 2025 has been an improvement versus last year.

“After adjusting for the same number of billing days, the rolling three-month average monthly sales growth has been in the 5% to 6% range so far this year versus the 2% area last year,” Loftus said. “But so far this year inventories have been growing faster than sales. Hopefully those boxes begin to melt away now that summer has arrived.

HARDI members voluntarily provide monthly sales data to an independent entity which collects and compiles the data. The data can include products not directly associated with the HVACR industry.