No two retailers give a better indication of where the housing market is than Home Depot and Lowe’s, whose successes and shortcomings have long served as a bellwether for the industry’s economic health. So the fact that each reported mixed but encouraging second-quarter financial results this week is good news for the rest of the home business. Or at the very least, it’s not bad news.

Home Depot, the larger of the two, missed analyst forecasts for the quarter, but Lowe’s beat them, giving its stock a bigger boost for the week than its competitor’s. Lowe’s also announced a serious acquisition of a pro builder company, Foundation Building Materials, for $8.8 billion—continuing the retail giants’ trend of going after the contractor and professional market.

Lowe’s seemed to impress analysts the most, with same-store sales up 1.1 percent from a year ago, and total revenue for the period hitting $24 billion, just beating the consensus forecast. Earnings came in at $4.33 per share, nicely beating predictions of $4.24.

Meanwhile, Home Depot missed both its top- and bottom-line forecasts for the first time since 2024, yet its sales still rose 4.9 percent—but just 1 percent on a comp-store basis. Earnings were $4.68 per share versus the forecast of $4.72. The company did say it saw better results for July, the final month of the quarter, with comps up 3.3 percent over the same month last year. Lowe’s said it detected a similar boost in July.

These two DIYers have traditionally served as leading-edge indicators for strength in the sector, and how they feel about what’s ahead is as good an indicator as any. While there’s no exact formula for how long it takes for increases in homebuilding and remodeling to trickle down to sales of home furnishings, conventional industry thinking is that it takes six to nine months, depending on the category. Big-ticket items like furniture and major appliances tended to be on the earlier side of that scale, with decor, textiles and housewares trailing several months behind.

Looking to the future, Home Depot was the more optimistic of the two, though it doesn’t predict any near-term boom in the marketplace. Rather, as president and CEO Ted Decker said on the earnings call: The company sees “continued momentum” but “not a big uptick” as U.S. business will be “more or less” similar in existing comp rates. While Home Depot kept its earlier forecasts in place, Lowe’s slightly lowered its own, projecting full-year earnings in the $12.10-to-$12.35-per-share range, down from the prior $12.15 to $12.40.

In other words, things certainly aren’t getting worse, but they also don’t appear to be roaring back in the immediate future. Neither retailer is seeing a big pickup in homebuilding, which drives both businesses—and ultimately the home furnishings sector. Sit tight.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.