The second quarter of this year has presented unique challenges for the radiant heating industry as home sales activity continues to be depressed by a myriad of factors. But this time frame has also allowed us to identify several surprising growth multipliers for the company, including massive gains in the Rocky Mountain region for radiant heating sales.
For WarmlyYours, second-quarter sales in this region increased 22.9% year-over-year, which made it easily the fastest growing region for radiant heating sales.
And this regional bright spot may indicate a relatively comparable upswell for sales nationally as some metrics appear to indicate that home renovation spending may have a bright future in the near term.
In this report, we’ll take a closer look at the performance of radiant heating product sales, with a specific focus on snow melting systems, and analyze the impact that the national housing and remodeling markets are expected to have on future sales.
WarmlyYours Product Sales in Q2 2024
For floor heating, the fastest growing product in Q2 2024 for consolidated sales was one of the TempZone Cable options which was up 148.3%. This product can be installed with hardwood floors (using fixing strips and running the cable between the sleepers that the floor covering is nailed or glued to). Hardwood floors saw a robust and comparable increase (up 151%) in consolidated sales during the same time period.
Snow melting saw the 240V mat grow the most during this timeframe, with an increase of 39.3%. This heating element is often used in larger projects since it allows for more square footage coverage at a lower total power draw than comparable 120V heating elements.
Roof and gutter deicing systems also had a strong second quarter with growth of 269% for the self-regulating, cut-to-length product. This is the oldest roof and gutter deicing product we offer and has been very popular, particularly with trade professional clients.
The most popular towel warmer model during Q2 2024 was the Summit. The Summit was up 145.1% and is our newest towel warmer model. It features an integrated heated shelf along with dual-connection electrical hookup (it can be installed as a plug-in or converted to hardwired), TempSmart overheat protection which will shut the unit off if it overheats, and two available finishes. These details have made the Summit popular with both homeowners and trade professionals.
Second Quarter Radiant Heating Sales in the Rocky Mountain Region
Despite strong growth indicators across the board, there was one region that showed a substantial upward trend in radiant heating sales: the Rocky Mountains. This region, defined by WarmlyYours as Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming, was the fastest growing for radiant heating sales with a 22.9% increase in year-over-year sales. The next fastest growing region was the Southwest, which was up 16.2%.
The growth rate in the Rocky Mountain region was positive for all included states but the rate of change and volume of increase varied. The largest state by sales volume variation was Colorado, which was up 4.1%. This was followed by Wyoming (up 226.8%), Idaho (up 55.8%), Utah (up 6.9%), and Montana (up 83.3%).
A large percentage of this growth is certainly due to the competitive nature of the housing market in this region, particularly in Colorado. According to the Denver Post, April 2024 closed with an 18% increase in the number of homes for sale. This hot streak extended into May with a 28% increase in year-over-year home listings before greatly accelerating in June with a 68.27% increase. This increase in available listings has incentivized sellers to differentiate their listings with unique elements like floor heating or a heated driveway. Additionally, this glut of supply helps with improving pricing which in turn provides buyers with more expendable capital to invest in improvements for their new property.
For WarmlyYours, we saw a significant increase in the amount of website traffic we received from the Rocky Mountain region during Q2 2024. Compared to the previous year, we saw increases for Colorado (up 12.5%), Utah (up 16.6%), Idaho (up 17.3%), Wyoming (up 35.7%), and Montana (up 16.6%). This increase in web traffic is very consistent with the growth that we saw from both trade and homeowner customer channels for the region.
With the increase in Rocky Mountain regional sales, there has also been a shift in the types of products being purchased in that area. In Q2 2023, the most popular product type was floor heating at 49% of all sales in the region. By the same period in 2024, that number had dipped to 30%. Similarly, towel warmers went from 6% of sales in this area in 2023 to just 3% in 2024.
Snow melting, which has always been a strong seller in the region, has emerged as the dominant radiant heating product type in Rocky Mountain sales as it shifted from 38% of regional sales to a whopping 54% in the second quarter this year. Snow melting sales increased 52.5% in Q2 2024 and 111.4% so far this year.
The popularity of snow melting in the Rockies shouldn’t be surprising given that the region often gets a significant amount of snowfall. In fact, Colorado is considered the 4th snowiest state, according to USA.com.
The most popular individual radiant heating product type in the Rocky Mountain region was our Snow Melting Mat 240V, which was up 134.1% This product is popular for heated driveways because compared to 120V heating elements it allows for a better ratio of square foot coverage to the power required.
Another fast growing snow melting product was 240V cable (up 18.3%). This product is also popular for commercial or larger projects given the voltage’s capabilities.
For floor heating in the Rocky Mountain region, the two most popular products were the Environ Flex Roll (up 91.4%) and the TempZone Flex Roll (up 39.5%). Both of these products can be installed using the “cut-and-turn” method which is where you roll out the heating element and then cut the mesh or foil (never the actual heating cable) to create a turn so that you can run the heating element back in the same direction it came from. This installation method is easy to pick up and is great for providing full coverage in square or rectangular rooms.
Another interesting trend for the Rocky Mountain region has been where radiant heating is being applied. For floor heating, bathrooms are the most popular location for floor heating with increases of 26.4% for traditional bathrooms, 16% for powder rooms, and 9.2% for master bathrooms. While this is true of most locations, in the Rocky Mountain region, bathroom floor heating sales have greatly outpaced those in the rest of the nation.
For snow melting, the most popular applications for snow melting were walkways (up 29.6%) and entries (up 23.4%).The Rocky Mountain region did see an uptick in heated driveway sales (up 20.7%) but they are generally the most popular uses of snow melting and it’s interesting to see that two other project types have eclipsed heated driveways. The explanation for this is likely related to an increase in commercial snow melting projects, where snow melting systems may be required in high traffic areas like the entry or a walkway for liability reasons.
Julia Billen, owner and president of WarmlyYours, said that identifying these types of customer trends in the Rocky Mountain region has been invaluable for the company.
“Obviously, the needs of a customer in Colorado aren’t going to line up 100% with the needs of a customer in Maryland, but there is common ground,” said Billen. “By taking a closer look at a regional market, we’re sometimes able to see the bigger picture and be a better partner for our customers everywhere.”
Billen said that she expects to see this trend of increased radiant heating sales in the Rocky Mountains to continue for the foreseeable future.
“The Rockies are a beautiful place to live and that’s probably never going to change,” said Billen. “But what will change is how people live in these places and we’ll be there to make sure that they have access to the very best radiant heating systems in the world.”
The National Housing and Remodeling Markets in Q2 2024
Sales of radiant heating products, such as floor heating and snow melting systems, are closely linked to both the real estate market and home renovation trends, as many homeowners engage in remodeling projects either to get a property market-ready before selling or to personalize their new home to fit their preferences after purchase.
For years, the lack of available inventory has been a significant constraint on home sale and remodeling activity. The national benchmarks for both the housing and remodeling industries indicate that this trend will continue to be an issue.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that in Q2 2024 nearly 90% of the metro markets that they measure saw increased home prices.
"The record-high home prices in most metro markets bring good and bad news," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR Chief Economist. "It's terrific news for homeowners who are moving ahead in wealth gains. However, it's difficult for those wanting to buy a home as the required income to qualify has roughly doubled from just a few years ago."
According to NAR, the average price for a single family home increased 4.9% year-over-year. A large driver of this has been federal interest rates.
“Housing affordability worsened in the second quarter as mortgage rates increased. The monthly mortgage payment on a typical existing single-family home with a 20% down payment was $2,262, up 11.1% from the first quarter ($2,036) and 10.3% – or $212 – from one year ago. Families typically spent 26.5% of their income on mortgage payments, up from 24.2% in the previous quarter and 25.3% one year ago.”
According to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA), a quarterly assessment from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, they expect to see annual homeowner spending on renovations and repairs continue to be in negative growth rate values but they also expect to see an easing of that drop to just -0.5% by Q2 2025.
“Economic uncertainty and continued weakness in home sales and the sale of building materials are keeping a lid on residential remodeling, although many drivers of spending are starting to firm up again,” said Carlos Martín, Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Center. “After several years of frenzied activity during the pandemic, owners are now making upgrades and repairs to their homes at a steadier and more sustainable pace.”
At WarmlyYours, we expect to see sales in the Rocky Mountain region, particularly for snow melting, continue to grow in Q3 as we get closer to the snowy season. We are also projecting that floor heating will have a significant third quarter due to a revamping of the product portfolio, which included the introduction of the TempZone Ruler Floor Heating Cable and a couple of soon to be announced control options. Finally, we expect to see a massive uptick in towel warmer sales due to new strategic partnerships and a new pricing structure.
Sources
- Relevant WarmlyYours internal sales data and website analytics reports
- https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/press-releases/remodeling-spending-tick-through-mid-year-2025
- https://www.denverpost.com/2024/05/17/colorados-housing-market-in-april-sees-surge-in-available-homes-real-estate-voices/
- https://thedenver100.com/so-hows-the-market-may-2024/
- http://www.usa.com/rank/us--average-snow--state-rank.htm
- https://porchlightgroup.com/blog/posts/2024/07/05/denver-real-estate-market-stats-june-2024/
- https://www.foxweather.com/learn/7-snowiest-cities-in-united-states
- https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/16/americas-10-best-housing-markets.html
- https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/nearly-90-percent-of-metro-areas-saw-home-price-gains-in-Q2-2024
- https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/metropolitan-median-area-prices-and-affordability
- https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/pending-home-sales
- https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/existing-home-sales
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