Looks like the pandemic turned a lot of people into amateur Bob the Builders if Home Depot’s (HD) Q3 earnings are anything to go by. The largest US home improvement products retailer posted a 9.8% YoY increase in its sales, reaching $36.8b, while net earnings rose by 20.3% to $4.1b. Both results beat Wall Street expectations.

The key driver for the growth was a soaring high US housing market, which has seen prices rise by 20% annually. With the Delta variant back in the US, it was also a bit harder for people to have repairmen over in their homes, which led to more consumers being willing to undertake DIY home improvement projects. The work-from-home environment, as well, is mostly still intact across the US, which led to higher demand for home office products.

Although figures were up, industry-wide supply issues were of key interest to analysts – the company quelled those concerns though, mentioning that it stocked up its inventory for Q4 already.