The American Rental Association (ARA) is forecasting a 13 percent decline in equipment and event rental revenue this year compared to 2019, dropping to $48.7 billion in the United States. However, the latest forecast released by the association on November 12 calls for modest overall growth in 2021, ticking up 0.3 percent to $48.9 billion, before accelerating recovery kicks in with growth of 9.2 percent in 2022, 6.8 percent in 2023, and 4.8 percent in 2024 to reach $59.7 billion.
Construction and industrial rental revenue also is forecast to finish 2020 with a significant hit in revenue, dropping 13.3 percent to $33.8 billion and a 3.3 percent decline is forecast for 2021 before double-digit growth of 11.2 percent comes in 2022.
The general tool segment weathered the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the best and is expected to finish 2020 down 5.2 percent to $12.7 billion and is expected to top its 2019 revenue peak by 2022.
Investment in equipment is significantly down in 2020, with a 43 percent decrease to $8.166 billion. Equipment spending is forecast to rebound by 17.4 percent in 2021 and by 46.3 percent in 2022 to surpass annual investment of $14 billion. For more, visit www.ararental.org.