# Do retail store (B&M) revenues correlate with residential property prices ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-retail-store-b-m-revenues-correlate-with-residential-property-prices/745027 "2016-02-03T05:08:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-retail-store-b-m-revenues-correlate-with-residential-property-prices/745027/1 "2016-02-03T05:08:59Z")
Under consideration are big chain stores like Walmart, Homedepot, Lowes, Walgreens, etc. Does the revenue of stores like this correlate with the residential property values ? Say the average property value in a certain part of a state (residential) is $50 per square foot and another part of the state it is $100 per square foot. Will two identical homedepots located in each part have the revenues in the same ratio ? Also, do property values correlate with median income ? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-retail-store-b-m-revenues-correlate-with-residential-property-prices/745027/2 "2016-02-03T16:16:13Z")
Lowes and Home Depot revenues are a lot more correlated with new construction and with household turnover than just with property values as such. Also the direction of property values is a lot more important than their absolute value. In an area of rising values you’ll have more turnover and (historically) more people taking out their new-found equity and in many cases reinvesting it in the residence via improvements. In an area with sinking values nobody is putting a nickel into their houses. Even if the median house is $200K in both places you’ll sure see a difference in sales between them. I can’t speak to the others. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-retail-store-b-m-revenues-correlate-with-residential-property-prices/745027/3 "2016-02-03T16:25:49Z")
I note that in the UK there is a trend from DIY to PSETDI (Pay Someone Else To Do It) > [@](#): > > Recent research by the Lloyds Banking Group found that homeowners are spending a fortune on dodgy DIY projects. Some 3.3 million people spend an average of £3,200 correcting mistakes, many of them self-inflicted. Avoiding DIY also relieves pressure on the NHS: more than 200,000 people are injured each year trying their hand at jobs around the house, with A&E units especially full at holiday periods. > [@](#): > > if the current decline continues, home maintenance could be extinct within 40 years. Young people today have simply lost the skills we once took for granted. According to another survey, only eight per cent say they can rewire a plug and just 17 per cent know how to hang a picture. > **[The rise and fall of the do-it-yourself bug](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11182595/The-rise-and-fall-of-the-do-it-yourself-bug.html)** > > Store closures at the DIY giant Homebase reflect a decline in craft skills that we once took for granted Locally a major DIY store has sold half their shed to a supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-retail-store-b-m-revenues-correlate-with-residential-property-prices/745027/4 "2016-02-03T18:45:14Z")
There is a much more direct relationship between per capita and household incomes and store sales than there is with property values. Disposable income drives retail sales, and disposable is what’s left after paying required monthly expenses such as the mortgage or rent and other more or less fixed monthly expenses. So, two areas with similar incomes buy different home costs will see a difference in retail sales related to the difference in disposable income after housing. As to your second question, property values definitely correlate with incomes, though that also varies by region. Housing costs are much higher compared to incomes in certain areas of the country, but within a market there is high correlation. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-retail-store-b-m-revenues-correlate-with-residential-property-prices/745027/5 "2016-02-03T18:47:47Z")
A related issue is the decline in owner-occupied dwellings. One of the side effects in the US at least of the Great Real Estate Crash of 2008 is that lots more people will be lifetime renters than lifetime homeowners going forward. Which certainly alters the DIY/PSETDI equation.