Happy New Year from HBW! Dave Taylor here wishing you opportunity, industry, and success in the New Year. To get this year started right, let’s take a look at some of the trends that will be driving the U.S. residential construction industry. The Wells Fargo Economics Group recently released its 2015 Economic Outlook, and they’ve predicted that 2015 will mark a strong recovery for the home building market.
The two biggest contributors to suboptimal market conditions in the past decade are the high foreclosure rates and the low home prices. Wells Fargo reports that the home ownership, rate which reached peak levels ten years ago, has fallen 4.8% to 64.6%, which is the lowest ownership rate in 19 years. Foreclosures rose during the last decade, reaching peak levels four years ago.
But according to the Wells Fargo report, economists “expect this series to overcorrect because of tight mortgage credit, changing attitudes towards homeownership and household finances continue to be repaired.” As the economy improves and credit criteria loosen, attitudes toward household finances and home ownership also loosen, which creates conditions for a sharp uptick in new home construction and ownership for 2015 before the market evens out in 2016.
Sales of existing homes, which dropped 3.8 % for most of 2014, are expected to grow by 4.1% in 2015. Single-family starts grew only 6% in 2014 due to the tight lending standards, weak job market, and slow household formation are expected to strengthen. The percentage of single-family starts is expected to double the current rate, reaching to 13.7% in 2015.
HBW serves builders in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma as well. In addition to our Building Trend Activity for Residential Construction Reports, HBW can create a number of custom reports for any need you might have. We also offer exclusive White Paper Reports to help you market your business. White papers start by giving an overview of the trends in your area and then advice on how to turn your weekly building permit information subscription into successful business leads. If you need to access permit report data ASAP from a job site, try out our Cloud Search service! To show you how we can help your business succeed, HBW is glad to provide you with complementary building data report or one of our specialized White Paper Reports. Contact us today and start making your business more profitable!