Residence Depot, the highest retail chain People depend on for house enchancment merchandise, has been struggling to beat a significant shift in shopper conduct over the previous few years, which has had a ripple impact on its enterprise, prompting the corporate to shift gears.
Because the housing market continues to face uncertainty as a consequence of affordability considerations, many shoppers have been curbing spending on house enchancment tasks.
Amid this development, Residence Depot’s U.S. comparable gross sales solely elevated by a minor 0.1% 12 months over 12 months throughout the third quarter of 2025, in line with the corporate’s newest earnings report. Additionally, knowledge from Placer.ai confirmed that foot visitors at Residence Depot’s same-store areas decreased by 0.4% throughout the quarter in comparison with the identical time interval in 2024.
Throughout an earnings name in November, Residence Depot CEO Ted Decker mentioned that the corporate continues “to see softer engagement in larger discretionary projects where customers typically use financing to fund renovation projects.”
“What’s impacting us and home improvement is the ongoing pressure in housing, in incremental consumer uncertainty,” mentioned Decker. “So take housing. I mean, housing has been soft for some time. We all know the higher interest rates and affordability concerns. But what we’re seeing now is even less turnover; the housing activity is truly at 40-year lows as a percentage of housing stock.”
Regardless of the typical 30-year mortgage price within the U.S. sitting above 6%, the housing market is slowly recovering as charges continued to lower in December, which is a glimmer of hope for Residence Depot and different rivals.
How the U.S. housing market carried out in December 2025:
- The common 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in December was 6.19%, down from 6.24% in November.
- The median existing-home gross sales value reached $405,400, reflecting a 0.4% year-over-year enhance.
- Current-home gross sales rose by 5.1% month over month, however are solely up 1.4% 12 months over 12 months.
- Month-over-month U.S. house gross sales spiked in all areas; nonetheless, year-over-year gross sales elevated within the South, remained flat within the Midwest and West, and decreased within the Northeast.
Sources: Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors, Freddie Mac
“December home sales, after adjusting for seasonal factors, were the strongest in nearly three years,” mentioned NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a press launch. “Inventory levels remain tight. With fewer sellers feeling eager to move, homeowners are taking their time deciding when to list or delist their homes. Similar to past years, more inventory is expected to come to market beginning in February.”
Residence Depot has been scuffling with weak gross sales as customers pull again.
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Residence Depot makes drastic workforce adjustments
Amid the housing market’s sluggish restoration, Residence Depot has determined to shrink its workforce because it battles weak shopper demand.
The corporate laid off virtually 800 staff in its retailer assist middle in Atlanta, Georgia, in line with a WARN discover filed on Jan. 28.
As well as, Residence Depot additionally warned the remainder of its company workforce that they are going to be anticipated to return to working in places of work 5 days every week, beginning April 6. Workers are presently allowed to work in particular person Monday via Thursday, 4 days every week, in line with a latest report from Enterprise Insider.
“We’re simplifying our corporate operations to better support our stores and our customers,” mentioned a Residence Depot spokesperson in an announcement. “Our goal is to drive greater agility and position the company to move faster and stay even more closely connected with our frontline associates.”
The transfer from Residence Depot comes after it not too long ago scaled again its provide chain, resulting in job cuts at its distribution amenities.
Associated: Residence Depot and Lowe’s quietly achieve new rival
Its subsidiary HD Provide shut down its distribution facility in La Vergne, Tennessee, earlier this month, leading to 108 layoffs.
In October, Residence Depot additionally closed a distribution facility in Mexico, Missouri, leading to 61 staff shedding their jobs.
Residence Depot’s newest spherical of layoffs comes throughout a time when it’s more and more investing in synthetic intelligence to make its operations extra seamless.
Extra Labor:
- Meta makes drastic workforce choice after $73 billion in losses
- T-Cellular quietly makes chilly transfer as loyal clients depart
- Dell points agency warning after staff violate work coverage
Earlier this month, the corporate launched AI-powered teaching instruments from Rilla to assist and prepare its service and gross sales staff on communication and repair supply.
Residence Depot additionally not too long ago expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to launch AI instruments to help customers and associates on venture completion duties.
Residence Depot is a part of a rising development in company America
Residence Depot isn’t the one firm to announce layoffs this 12 months. Amazon introduced 16,000 layoffs earlier this week to “strengthen” its group. Two weeks in the past, Meta additionally laid off over 1,000 staff in its Actuality Labs division amid low earnings from its Metaverse enterprise.
Moreover, T-Cellular carried out a number of job cuts in latest weeks as its new CEO enforces a “digital transformation” on the firm.
Layoffs aren’t going away anytime quickly. A latest survey from Resume.org discovered that 6 in 10 firms plan to chop jobs this 12 months.
How U.S. firms are planning layoffs in 2026:
- Roughly 55% of firms count on to conduct layoffs in 2026.
- Particularly, 48% mentioned their layoffs will certainly or most likely happen throughout the first quarter of this 12 months.
- Additionally, 44% of firms mentioned synthetic intelligence was the high purpose for layoffs, whereas 42% mentioned reorganization/restructuring and 39% mentioned funds constraints.
Supply: Resume.org
“Most organizations are reducing roles that are higher-cost, slower to yield ROI, or misaligned with new operating models,” mentioned Kara Dennison, head of profession advising at Resume.org, in an announcement. “That often includes layers of middle management, duplicated functions after reorganizations, and roles tied to legacy processes. At the same time, they’re investing in roles that support growth, automation, data, customer retention, and execution speed.”
Residence Depot’s choice to ask staff to return to the workplace 4 days every week, at the side of its layoff announcement, additionally follows within the footsteps of many different firms in company America that not too long ago scaled again distant work, akin to JPMorgan Chase, Amazon and Intel.
A survey from Resume Builder final 12 months discovered that 1 in 8 firms plan to extend the variety of days they require staff to be within the workplace in 2026, whereas 3 in 10 will fully take away distant work.
Amid this in-office push, nationwide workplace visits elevated 5.6% 12 months over 12 months in 2025, bringing attendance to 31.7% under pre-COVID-19 pandemic ranges, the very best level because the pandemic, in line with a white paper from Placer.ai, which was shared with TheStreet.
Associated: Meta makes drastic workforce choice after $73 billion in losses
