North American HVACR distributor sales for May 2010 were up nearly 8 percent from last year, according to reports from the Heating, Airconditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International.

HARDI officials said that this marks the third consecutive month in which overall distributor sales were up from the previous year. Among HARDI’s seven U.S. regions, six were up while the Western region ended a string of two consecutive months of growth. Canada continued its strong run and is the only HARDI region showing a running 12 months in the positive.

Referring to the Western region’s erratic 2010 so far, HARDI’s chief economist, Alan Beaulieu of the Institute for Trend Research, commented, “Oregon and Washington had a horrible month for housing permits in May with April to May declines of 16.9 percent and 11 percent, respectively.”

For more information about HARDI’s monthly TRENDS (Targeted and Regional Economic News for Distribution Strategies) reports, including access to the complete reports, and quarterly forecasts, contact visit www.hardinet.org.