Home improvement signals a hotter housing market ahead

The U.S. housing market is shaking off what was a weak spring and may be headed for an upswing in the coming months. This after Home Depot, the nation’s largest home-improvement retailer, boosted its full-year outlook on Tuesday, a sign of economic optimism.

“It makes sense that folks that are living in homes, if they feel good about their job situation, they feel good about money in the bank, they start to accumulate, that they would do things to make their lifestyle a little nicer by improving their house,” OwnAmerica.com CEO Greg Rand said during an interview with FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto.

Along with raising its earnings and sales goals, the home-improvement store reported a second-quarter profit of $3.05 per share, far surpassing expectations of $2.84, largely thanks to a strong economy and increased consumer spending. In the spring, the retailer delivered mixed results, with sales falling short of predictions.

Home Depot shares ended the session lower as investors weighed the results. Although some warned that it could be representative of a lackluster housing market -- meaning people wanted to fix up their homes, instead of buying newer ones -- Rand disagrees.

“That’s totally wrong,” he said, adding that tight inventory is also not a reason to worry.

“To seize on the idea that people are staying put because they can’t afford the next house, there’s not enough inventory, is kind of like looking for some needle of negativity in this haystack of positivity that’s going on out there,” he said. “The connection is, housing is hot [and] home improvement is hot.”