The five-year forecast for the equipment rental industry released by the American Rental Association (ARA) projects a compound annual growth rate in revenue of 4.9 percent to reach $57.3 billion in the U.S. in 2020. Updated at the end of July, the numbers in the forecast are slightly modified compared to ARA’s quarterly forecast in late April. ARA projects industry revenue to increase by 4.9 percent in 2016 to a record $47.6 billion and to grow another 4.6 percent in 2017 to reach $49.8 billion. The new forecast for the first time extends the projections to 2020, showing steady growth from 2016 through 2020 of between 4.6 percent and 5 percent each year.

The biggest change to the new forecast concerns Canada. The ARA Rental Market Monitor™, a service that provides rental-specific market information, now forecasts a 0.8 percent increase to $4.976 billion and total rental revenue in Canada is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.2 percent over the 2016 to 2020 period.