Economics lessons from Home Depot
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Finance & economics | Locked out<br>Economics lessons from Home Depot<br>What the world’s biggest DIY store says about American housing<br>Share
Photograph: Getty Images
May 20th 2026|3 min read
Home Depot is no ordinary retailer, but a barometer for America’s housing market. Sales by the world’s biggest chain of DIY shops fell sharply in 2007, before many on Wall Street cottoned on to the coming housing crash. More recently its revenues surged in tandem with the boom that followed the covid-19 pandemic.
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