Home Depot is no ordinary retailer, but a barometer(晴雨表，指标) for America’s housing market. Comparable sales at the world’s biggest DIY chain fell sharply in 2007, before many on Wall Street cottoned on to(理解，领悟到) the coming housing crash. More recently its revenues surged(激增，急剧上升) along with the boom that followed the covid-19 pandemic.
家得宝并非普通零售商，而是美国房地产市场的晴雨表。这家全球最大的DIY连锁店的可比销售额在2007年大幅下滑，远早于华尔街许多人意识到即将到来的房市崩溃。最近，其收入又随着新冠疫情后的繁荣而激增。
Since then Home Depot has again felt the strain. Though home prices have held up(保持坚挺，维持良好), the home-buying frenzy(狂热，疯狂) subsequently ground to a halt(逐渐停止，陷入停滞). Annual transactions fell by 20% in 2022 and by 30% in 2023. Mortgage rates have fallen from their peak in 2023, but sales of existing homes over the past two years have been the lowest in three decades, according to the National Association of Realtors. Speaking in April, Richard McPhail, Home Depot’s finance chief, put it plainly: “We have never seen housing activity this slow for this long.”(“我们从未见过住房活动如此低迷且持续如此之久。”)
自那以后，家得宝再次感受到压力。尽管房价保持坚挺，但购房热潮随后戛然而止。2022年年度交易量下降20%，2023年下降30%。抵押贷款利率已从2023年的峰值回落，但据全美房地产经纪人协会称，过去两年现房销量创下三十年来新低。今年4月，家得宝财务主管理查德·麦克菲尔直言不讳地说：“我们从未见过住房活动如此低迷且持续如此之久。”
All this means fewer DIY projects.(所有这些都意味着DIY项目减少。) Favourable currency exchange rates boosted revenue growth in Home Depot’s latest fiscal quarter, for which it released results on May 19th. But strip these out(剔除这些因素) and annual sales in America have been falling or flat(持平的，无增长) for three years. Customer transactions last year were 9% below a peak in 2021.
所有这些都意味着DIY项目减少。有利的汇率推动了家得宝最近一个财季（其于5月19日公布了业绩）的收入增长。但剔除这些因素，美国的年销售额三年来一直下降或持平。去年客户交易量比2021年的峰值低9%。
