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.
The Policy Advisory Board of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies convened its first meeting of 2013 recently in Washington, DC under the leadership of its recently appointed Chairman, Michael H. Thaman, Chairman and CEO of Owens Corning.
Price and proximity to work are key concerns for first-time home buyers, while trade-up buyers tend to be most focused on the design of the home and the neighborhood, according to "Characteristics of Home Buyers," an analysis of the recently released 2011 American Housing Survey (AHS) by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
The budding housing revival driven by pent-up consumer demand still faces a number of obstacles, including tight credit for builders along with a stretched lot and building supply system in many markets that are barely keeping up with demand.
Sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 15.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000 units in January, according to newly released figures from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Exceptionally low interest rates helped ensure a slight gain in nationwide housing affordability amid relatively stable house prices in the final quarter of 2012, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), released recently.
Existing-home sales edged up in January, while a seller’s market is developing and home prices continue to rise steadily above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Due to a double-digit dip on the typically volatile multifamily side, nationwide housing starts declined 8.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000 units in January, according to newly released data from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau.