Building Supply Sales Are Rising Fastest

Gaining speed, however, are sales of building supplies. Chapman expects that sales of construction materials in the county will surge 11.3% to $1.35 billion this year. That’s the biggest increase in any major category.

But Murl Fast, president of the 10-store Barr Lumber chain, based in Los Alamitos, said the numbers are misleading. Lumber prices are rising, which accounts for a big part of the gain in total sales, he said. And while hardware sales are also growing, that could be due mostly to a temporary spurt in repairs on existing houses.

The key to a healthy building supplies industry is new home sales, Fast said. And that sector hasn’t fully recovered from the lengthy recession.

After seven years of desultory sales to the new-home market, Fast said he’s learned to be circumspect. “We’re having a better year than last year and a better year than any since 1990,” he said. But a significant pickup “will depend on new housing sales between now and the end of the year. I’ve not seen anything that’s encouraging on that front.”

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Patrice Apodaca covers economic issues for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5979 and at patrice.apodaca@latimes.com.