Home Renovation, Now ??

As yesterday's ugly fourth-quarter results from Lowe's demonstrated, the housing slump is only beginning to leave its steel-toed boot marks on the bottom lines of Corporate America. Lowe's, the second-biggest home improvement retailer behind Home Depot, cited the “unprecedented” housing downturn in posting a 33-per-cent drop in profit.

And it warned there's more pain on the way.



True, Lowe's stock rallied on the results, but that was only because the per share numbers, although awful, were a few pennies less awful than some analysts expected. It's hard to see how anyone can put a positive spin on a quarter in which same-store sales plunged 7.6 per cent. For fiscal 2008, Lowe's expects same-store sales to tumble by 5 to 6 per cent.

So now May be the time to plan for the renovations to your home as the prices for materials come down.

There will be a lot of good deals on just about any tools and hardware.