Cupid de Locke

It’s Valentine's Day and I’d love to mention that I have a sweetheart of a topic to share this week, but I’m sorry to say it’s left me a little brokenhearted.

Since the beginning of February, I’ve been watching a lot of Q4 2023 reports roll out and while we can still safely call it the year of AI, it’s also the year of the residential security market falling flat on its face. I talked about this a bit in my last blog post where I discussed ADT getting out of the residential solar business. It’s a hard market for any sort of residential product right now, security related or otherwise.

During ASSA ABLOY’s Q4 webcast the topic was somewhat brushed aside, I believe they said it was, “…a relatively small part of our income,” when the topic was broached. That’s probably true, but it’s still a lot of potential profit going to waste for what is maybe the largest global residential lock manufacturer.

During Resideo’s call this week President and CEO Jay Geldmacher acknowledged the problem calling 2023 the weakest housing turnover year since 1995. Even so, Geldmacher was positive that the company was well positioned to build momentum and drive profitability as market conditions improve.

I wish I had that optimism. Indeed, every corporate officer I listen to these days remarks that while residential sales are “soft” or “flat” that things are poised to bounce back soon, and things will get better.

On my other screen I am looking at one article saying that the housing market is beginning to cool, after nine straight months of growth. On the other hand, I have another tab open that shows me an inflation report that recorded a consumer price index increase of 3.1% in the past year, causing the Dow Jones to tumble 500 points.

Cupid let fly your arrows, the residential security market needs a lot of love.