Home Depot, the top retailer that Americans trust for home improvement products, has been struggling to overcome a major shift in consumer behavior over the past few years that has had a ripple effect on its business, prompting the company to shift gears.

As the housing market continues to face uncertainty due to affordability issues, many consumers have been cutting back on spending on home improvement projects.

Amid that trend, Home Depot’s U.S. comparable sales rose just 0.1% year over year in the third quarter of 2025, the company said. latest earnings report. Also, Placer.ai data showed that foot traffic at Home Depot same-store locations declined 0.4% in the quarter compared to the same time period in 2024.

During a earnings call in NovemberHome Depot CEO Ted Decker said the company continues to “see softer commitment on larger discretionary projects where customers typically use financing to finance renovation projects.”

“What affects us and home improvement is the continued pressure on housing, on the incremental consumer uncertainty,” Decker said. “So take housing. I mean, housing has been soft for a while. We all know about the higher interest rates and the affordability issues. But what we’re seeing now is even less turnover; housing activity is actually at 40-year lows as a percentage of the housing stock.”

Although the average 30-year mortgage rate in the US is above 6%, the housing market is slowly recovering as rates continued to decline in December, which is a glimmer of hope for Home Depot and other competitors.

• the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in December it was 6.19%below 6.24% in November.

• The average sale price of the existing home it reached $405,400which reflects an increase of 0.4% year-on-year.

• Sale of existing homes increased by 5.1% month after month, but they are only 1.4% more year after year

• Home sales in the United States month by month increased in all regions; however, year-on-year sales increased to the south, it was flat in the Midwest and West, and decreased in the northeast
  Sources: National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac

“December home sales, after adjusting for seasonal factors, were the strongest in nearly three years,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a press release. “Inventory levels remain tight. With fewer sellers eager to move, homeowners are taking their time deciding when to list or delist their homes. As in years past, more inventory is expected to hit the market starting in February.”

Home Depot has been struggling with weak sales as shoppers retreat.Shutterstock · Shutterstock

Amid a slow housing market recovery, Home Depot has decided to cut its workforce as it battles weak consumer demand.

The company laid off nearly 800 employees at its store support center in Atlanta, Georgia, according to a WARN notice filed on January 28.

In addition, Home Depot also warned the rest of its corporate workforce that they are expected to return to work in offices five days a week, starting April 6. Currently, employees can work in person Monday through Thursday, four days a week, according to a report. recent report from Business Insider.

“We are streamlining our corporate operations to better support our stores and our customers,” a Home Depot spokesman said in a statement. “Our goal is to drive greater agility and position the company to move faster and stay even more connected to our frontline associates.”

Home Depot’s move comes after it recently downsized supply chainwhich led to job cuts at its distribution facilities.

Related: Home Depot and Lowe’s are quietly gaining a new rival

Its subsidiary HD supply close your distribution facility in La Vergne, Tenn., earlier this month, with 108 dismissals.

In October, Home Depot also closed a distribution facility in Mexico, Missouri, causing 61 employees to lose their jobs.

Home Depot’s latest round of layoffs comes at a time when it is increasingly investing in artificial intelligence to make its operations smoother.

More labor:

Earlier this month, the company introduced AI-powered coaching tools de Rilla to support and train its service and sales employees in communication and service delivery.

Home Depot also recently expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to launch AI tools to assist buyers and associates in project completion tasks.

Home Depot isn’t the only company to announce layoffs this year. Amazon announced 16,000 layoffs earlier this week to “strengthen” his organization. Two weeks ago, so did Meta laid off more than 1,000 workers to its Reality Labs division amid low profits from its Metaverse business.

Also, T-Mobile carried out several job cuts in recent weeks as its new CEO enforces a “digital transformation” at the company.

Layoffs aren’t going away anytime soon. A recent survey by Resume.org found that 6 out of 10 companies plan to cut jobs this year.

• approximately 55% of companies expect make layoffs in 2026.

• Specifically, 48% said that their layoffs will definitely or probably occur during the first quarter of this year

• Also, 44% of companies said artificial intelligence was the main reason for layoffswhile 42% said reorganization/restructuring i 39% mentioned budget limitations.
  Source: Resume.org

“Most organizations are reducing roles that are more expensive and slower performance ROI, or misaligned with new operating models,” he said Kara DennisonHead of Career Advice at Resume.org, a statement. “It often includes layers of middle management, duplicated roles 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 speed of execution.”

Home Depot’s decision to ask employees to return to the office four days a week, along with its layoff announcement, also follows in the footsteps of many other companies in corporate America that recently scaled back remote work, including JPMorgan Chase, Amazon i Intel.

A Resume Builder survey Last year, 1 in 8 companies plan to increase the number of days they require employees to be in the office by 2026, while 3 in 10 will eliminate remote work entirely.

Amid this push to the office, visits to the national office increased by 5.6% year-on-year in 2025, bringing attendance to 31.7% below pre-pandemic levels, the highest point since the pandemic, according to a white paper by Placer.aiwhich was shared with TheStreet.

Related: Meta Makes Drastic Workforce Decision After $73B Loss

This story was originally published by The Street on January 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the Retail sale section Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.