In Latest Forecast ARA Expects Rental Revenue to Hit $59.3 Billion in 2021

The American Rental Association expects equipment rental industry revenue to grow consistent with a compound annual growth rate between 2017 and 2021 of 4.7 percent in the United States, resulting in total revenue of $59.3 billion in 2021.
Nov. 15, 2017
2 min read

The American Rental Association expects equipment rental industry revenue to grow consistent with a compound annual growth rate between 2017 and 2021 of 4.7 percent in the United States, resulting in total revenue of $59.3 billion in 2021. According to the ARA Rental Market Monitor five-year forecast updated in early November, total rental revenue will grow by 4.5 percent in 2018 to reach $51.5 billion, 5.5 percent in 2019, 4.9 percent in 2020 and 4.1 percent in 2021.

The November forecast is very close to the last forecast in August, with only minor fluctuations up or down in expected growth rates each year.

Equipment rental revenue is also expected to show consistent growth in Canada, ARA said, reaching $5.3 billion in 2018 with growth rates of 4.1 percent in 2019, 5 percent in 2020 and 4.8 percent in 2021 to total $6.11 billion.

“This is a strong forecast, showing the equipment rental industry will continue to consistently grow over the next five years, without factoring in any possible impact from tax reform or infrastructure spending,” said John McClelland, ARA’s vice president for government affairs and chief economist. “People continue to realize the benefits of renting and how it can positively impact the bottom line. As a result, the equipment rental industry continues to outperform the general economy as well as the industries it serves.”

 The ARA Rental Market Monitor features data and analysis from forecasting firm IHS Markit, which said construction/industrial equipment rental will show a 4.1-percent CAGR from 2017 to 2021, reaching $40.5 billion in 2021. General tool is expected to post a 5.7 percent CAGR during the forecast period, reaching $15 billion in 2021. Party and event rental is expected to have a 6.3 percent CAGR and surpass $3.9 billion in revenue in 2021.

Investment in rental equipment is projected to increase by 4 percent in 2018, 8.4 percent in 2019, 2.6 percent in 2020 and 1.2 percent in 2021, surpassing $15 billion that year.

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.

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