New financed construction equipment sales up 19% in April

The number of new construction equipment units financed in April totalled 8,000, gaining a nearly 2-percent edge over the 7,846 used units financed last month, according to the latest data from Equipment Data Associates.*

The monthly total represents the highest new financed equipment total so far this year, but lags about 17 percent behind the largest monthly total seen within the past year, December’s 9,614 units.

Compared with April 2013, the number of new financed units sold this April rose 19 percent while used units decreased 14 percent. During the January-to-April time frame, the number of new units sold increased by 15 percent over last year, going from 22,604 in 2013 to 26,553 this year, while the number of used units sold decreased 2 percent, going from 32,242 last year to 31,709 this year.

Perhaps taking note of the mud season and Spring’s late start in much of the country, April buyers bought compact track loaders in droves, with the mid-size Cat 336E L excavator the sole non-compact track loader model among top financed models. Top machines, in terms of number of units sold, were:

  1. Cat 259D compact track loader, 100 units
  2. Kubota SVL902 compact track loader, 83 units
  3. Cat 336E L excavator, 79 units
  4. Cat 289D compact track loader, 79 units
  5. Bobcat T650 and T590 compact track loaders, 78 units each

This contrasts with April 2013’s top financed new models, when users were buying more of a mix of products, including:

  1. Kubota SVL75 compact track loader, 101 units
  2. Case 580 Super N backhoe, 98 units
  3. Bobcat T650 compact track loader, 87 units
  4. Bobcat S650 skid steer, 80 units

Top lenders for the month were Caterpillar Financial Services, 990 units; John Deere Industrial Credit, 751 units; GE Capital Commercial, 386 units; Kubota Credit, 345 units; and CNH Industrial Capital America, 299 units.

*Equipment Data Associates, a division of Randall-Reilly, tracks public Uniform Commercial Code-1 filings submitted by lenders in financed equipment transactions.