Perhaps the most significant of all “floor trends” and one which will bear the most impact on our industry, is the size and direction of the U.S. housing market. We’ve been looking forward to the housing recovery for nearly five years. It’s been a slow recovery at best, but the market in most regions of the country is now clearly on a more brisk upswing, and the near-term forecast for 2013-2014 is looking even better. So what does this trend mean for you?
Bear with me on some boring statistics as we first take a look at the numbers. According to the NAHB Housing Economics Data, in 2012 total starts increased by 26.5% to 774,000. They are forecasted to grow 20.4% this year, and 22.5% in 2014. That will yield 1.14 million total U.S. housing starts in 2014. This will be a gain of 106% from the low point of 554,000 total housing starts in 2009.