Comments from September 11, 2026.

Spending patterns by US consumers are seasonal. Discretionary expenditures during the summer are typically focused on vacations and outdoor activities instead of the interior of the home. Spending priorities shift back to the interior in the fall, after Labor Day, once households have wrapped up vacations and buckle down for another school year, cooler weather, and fewer daylight hours.

As of this publication date, there are 11 weeks before the US Thanksgiving holiday. That tends to be an important date for homeowners tackling renovation projects because the goal is to have work wrapped up in time for Thanksgiving. This leaves adequate time for installing new unfinished Oak flooring, allowing coatings time to dry, finishing trim work, and reconfiguring furniture and accessories. Accordingly, it is not unusual for activity in the Oak strip flooring market to pick up ahead of the holiday season.

Collectively, the data variables that drive Fastmarkets’ Repair & Remodeling Index (RRI)—inflation-adjusted retail sales at building materials dealers; aggregate hours worked by residential remodelers; and the volume of Google searches involving do-it-yourself home improvement and replacement projects—have collectively pushed the Index higher since early 2024. Year-over-year through July 2026, the RRI was up 7.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

However, one of the aforementioned Index drivers is having an outsized impact on the RRI. The Google search trend component has risen strongly alongside widespread adoption of Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, which appears to be changing the relationship between search volume and actual activity, according to Fastmarkets economists. In other words, that component could be skewing the Repair & Remodeling Index higher despite tepid performances by other components. When accounting for that, research shows the RRI reading is virtually unchanged on the year through July, albeit from strong levels in 2025.

Most flooring items are moving at a healthy pace and have been since mid-July, shifting producer comments to a decidedly more positive tone and portending a stronger seasonal finish than start of the year. Changes in this week’s pricing matrices reveal continued downward pressure on Sel&Btr White Oak flooring but continued upward momentum for Sel&Btr Red Oak.