The head of the world's largest home-improvement retail chain has seen the future, and it includes the recovery of the U.S. housing market.
According to a MarketWatch report, Frank Blake, CEO of Home Depot Inc., used a Tuesday conference call announcement of the company's third-quarter profits to voice his approval of an improving housing market that is overcoming lingering challenges.
‘We believe the U.S. is still working through the issues associated with the housing crisis,’ Blake says. ‘Credit availability remains a major issue, but we can start to see the housing market as an assist to our growth rather than an anchor. We are starting to see the recovery of the housing market. The harder-hit areas that were really the epicenter of the housing crisis appear to be on the mend, and it's been constructive, and it's been consistent.’
Blake added that California and Florida markets, which were among the hardest hit by the housing downturn, are showing signs of continued improvement. For its part, Home Depot enjoyed a successful third quarter, with the number of customer transactions up 1.7% while the average transaction amount rose 2.9% to $54.55, resulting in the sixth consecutive quarter of transactional growth.