US rental industry to top $64 billion

In its latest five-year forecast, the American Rental Association (ARA) projects US equipment and event rental industry revenue to grow consistently on an annual basis, resulting in total revenue of $64 billion in 2022.

While the quarterly updates for ARA Rentalytics have shown minor fluctuations over the past few years, the May 2018 update is the first to project larger increases in revenue almost across the board when compared to the previous forecast.

For example, the latest update expects revenue to total $52.3 billion in 2018 instead of the $51.5 billion forecast in February.

“The economy is growing somewhat faster than expected and much of that is related to capital spending,” says Scott Hazelton, managing director, IHS Markit, the global business information provider that compiles data and analysis for ARA. Hazelton also provides an economic outlook for International Construction magazine.

“While construction is not particularly strong, it has improved. On a year-over-year basis, through the April Census report, construction spending had picked up, with the six-month annualised increase of 8.7%, up significantly from the 12-month increase of 3%. Despite uncertainty on tariffs, trade and Middle East policy dangers, business and consumer sentiment remain strong,” Hazelton said.

According to ARA Rentalytics, US construction rental revenues are forecast to grow by 6.1% this year to reach $36.2 billion and to increase another 5.7% in 2019, 5.3% in 2020, 4.2% in 2021 and, finally, by 3.5% in 2022.