NEMA’s Lighting Systems Index (LSI), which reflects sales of lighting equipment by NEMA members, dropped 4.8% between the third and fourth quarters of 2008.
Lighting shipments fell six of the last seven quarters, but this is the biggest drop since 2001, bringing the index 16% lower than its cyclical peak level in early 2006 and its lowest level in its brief history.
Virtually all major end markets for lighting equipment are struggling.
Residential lighting demand has contracted sharply for more than two years as a result of the housing market’s collapse related to falling home prices and glutted markets awash in foreclosed homes, and now also decimated labor markets conditions and tightening consumer credit. According to the latest numbers, the average family is poorer now than it was in 2001.
The nonresidential lighting market is also softening. Overall construction of new income properties (lodging, office, retail, etc) fell slightly for the second consecutive quarter, but declines are expected to accelerate moving forward and with it, demand for new lighting equipment from the nonresidential market.
Click here for a 2009 construction forecast roundup I produced for the Lighting Controls Association recently, now slightly outdated but still relevant (it was posted in late January).
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