Fifty-six percent of dealers report higher sales this year than last, BlueTarp reported today while announcing that its Building Supply Index climbed 9.2% in the second quarter from the year-earlier period to hit 131.04y.

The index rose to 131.04 from 119.98 in the April-to-June 2016 period. Values above 100 reflect healthy economic activity, the Portland, Maine-based financial management company reported. It’s based on a formula driven by consumer confidence, building permits, construction spending, and proprietary BlueTarp data.

The 56% of dealers using BlueTarp that reported somewhat or significantly higher sales this year compares with just 17% who reported a decline in sales.

“This quarter’s index is the highest we’ve had and driven by the optimism seen in consumer confidence,” said Scott Simpson, president and CEO of BlueTarp, which serves more than 2,000 building material suppliers nationwide that collectively have more than 120,000 pro customers.

“Delinquency levels, however, remain elevated so dealers would be wise not to confuse optimistic sentiment with thinking credit risk exposure is low,” Simpson added. (See related story.)

As part of its quarterly report, BlueTarp includes a quadrant in which it rates the performance of pro contractors regarding the quality of their credit and the speed with which they pay. Once again, BlueTarp pegged pros as being in the “cautious” quadrant, in which both spending and delinquency were high.