Bank of Americas card spending aggregates for April reveal a mixed picture for the building products and services ecosystem. On a household basis, combined credit and debit card transactions rose 4.8% compared with April of last year, and were 0.6% higher on a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis.
Within the home improvement channel - often used as a proxy for do-it-yourself activity - April spending fell 1% year-over-year. Even with that decline, spending at home improvement retailers remained 14% above April 2019 levels. By comparison, March posted a 1% year-over-year increase for home improvement retail spending.
Spending patterns diverged when examining professional work: housing-related services, which serve as a proxy for professional contractor demand, rose 4% year-over-year in April and sat 59% higher than April 2019. That figure represents a slowdown relative to March, when housing-related services showed 7% year-over-year growth.
At the product-category level, the building products cohort was patchy. Five of nine categories registered year-over-year gains in April. The categories with increases included carpentry contractors, general contractors, landscaping and horticultural services, concrete work contractors, and HVAC contractors.
Other categories saw contractions. Roofing sales continued to decline after a period of strong growth last year - a pattern the report links to elevated storm-driven demand in late 2024 and early 2025. Lumber, floor covering stores, and appliances also registered year-over-year drops in April.
Overall, the data underscore a split between general household spending, which is running ahead of last year, and specific building product retailers, where DIY-related retail purchases showed a modest pullback. Contractor-related services remain elevated relative to pre-pandemic April 2019 levels, though growth momentum eased from March to April.
Impacted sectors: home improvement retail, building products, contracting and services, and household consumer spending.