Wednesday, March 26, 2025 from Ceramic World Web

2024 was another year of struggles for the U.S. ceramic tile market. Tile consumption decreased for the third straight year largely due to issues in the residential market, with which the tile industry is closely connected. Feeling the pinch from high mortgage rates, inflation, rising material costs, labor shortages, increasing home prices, and nervous buyers, the housing market continued to decline. Total new home starts fell for the third consecutive year for the first time in fifteen years. The 1.36 million units started in 2024 represented a 3.9% decrease from the previous year.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, while the 1.01 million single-family new home starts in 2024 represented a 6.5% increase vs. 2023, multi-family starts (354,800 units) were down 24.9% over the same timeframe. Single-family starts comprised 74.0% of all new home starts last year.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) projects 2025 total housing starts to fall 2.6% to 1.33 million units, with single-family starts rising 0.2% but multifamily starts declining 10.7% from 2024.

Existing single-family home sales last year were at 3.67 million units. Although this represented a marginal increase vs. 2023 (+0.3%), it was the third lowest annual total since the mid-90s. Additionally, the median sales price of existing single-family homes in 2024 was $412,400, a 4.6% increase from 2023 and a record high. This was also a 50.2% increase from just five years ago, when the median existing single-family sales price was $274,600.

New home sales rose for the second straight year (+2.5% vs. 2023) but have not come close to approaching their level prior to the Great Recession. In fact, new home sales in 2024 (683,000 units) were down 46.8% from the record high of 1.28 million units sold in 2005 (source: U.S. Census Bureau).

Mortgage rates were at an annual average of 6.72% (30-year fixed) in 2024. Other than the slightly higher 2023 rate (6.81%), this was the highest annual mortgage rate since 2001 (source: Freddie Mac).

In some positive news, U.S. foreclosure filings, a key inverse indicator of the housing market’s health, fell 9.8% vs. 2023. The 322,000 foreclosure filings last year represented the third lowest annual total on record (source: ATTOM Data Solutions).

Also on the positive side, overall total U.S. construction spending (including private and public residential and non-residential construction) increased for the thirteenth year in a row, reaching an all-time high of $2.15 trillion in 2024, up 6.5% from the preceding year (source: U.S. Census Bureau).

U.S CERAMIC TILE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION

New home sales rose for the second straight year (+2.5% vs. 2023) but have not come close to approaching their level prior to the Great Recession. In fact, new home sales in 2024 (683,000 units) were down 46.8% from the record high of 1.28 million units sold in 2005 (source: U.S. Census Bureau).

Mortgage rates were at an annual average of 6.72% (30-year fixed) in 2024. Other than the slightly higher 2023 rate (6.81%), this was the highest annual mortgage rate since 2001 (source: Freddie Mac).

In some positive news, U.S. foreclosure filings, a key inverse indicator of the housing market’s health, fell 9.8% vs. 2023. The 322,000 foreclosure filings last year represented the third lowest annual total on record (source: ATTOM Data Solutions).

Also on the positive side, overall total U.S. construction spending (including private and public residential and non-residential construction) increased for the thirteenth year in a row, reaching an all-time high of $2.15 trillion in 2024, up 6.5% from the preceding year (source: U.S. Census Bureau).

2024 was $19.22/m2 ($1.79/sq. ft.), up from $19.06/m2 ($1.77/sq.ft.) the preceding year.

U.S. ceramic tile exports in 2024 were 3.8 million m² (41.1 million sq. ft.), down 19.5% from the previous year. The lion’s share of U.S. exports by volume went to our North American neighbors, Canada (78.1%) and Mexico (9.9%). U.S. exports by value in 2024 were $46.4 million, down 13.0% from 2023.

U.S. IMPORTS

According to figures by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, in 2024 U.S. ceramic tile imports were at 179.4 million m² (1.93 billion sq. ft.), a 3.5% decline from the previous year.

Although imports from India declined 2.7% from 2023 to 36.6 million m², India was the largest exporter to the U.S. by volume for the second straight year. Indian tile comprised 20.4% of total U.S. imports, up slightly from its 20.3% share the preceding year.

Spain remained the second largest exporter to the U.S. last year despite its volume falling 2.6% vs. 2023. Spanish imports held a 17.6% share of total U.S. imports by volume in 2024, up from 17.4% the previous year.

Italy passed Mexico to become the third-largest exporter to the U.S. by volume, with a 16% share of total U.S. imports, up from 15% in 2023. Imports from Italy rose 2.9% by volume compared to the prior year.

Each of the next three largest exporters to the U.S. by volume in 2024 experienced double-digit declines compared to 2023: Mexico (-12.3%), Brazil (-17.7%), and Turkey (-16.9%).

It was a different story, however, for the two largest exporters from Southeast Asia. Vietnam and Malaysia each experienced robust growth in their shipments to the U.S., reaching record-high volume totals. Vietnamese imports rose 36.7% compared to 2023, while Malaysian imports soared 94.6% from the previous year.

In 2024, the total value of ceramic tile imports decreased by 5.6% to US$2.42 billion. On a dollar basis (CIF + duty), Italy remained the largest exporter to the U.S., comprising 29.2% of 2024 U.S. imports (US$707 million, -2.1%), followed by Spain with a 24.8% share (US$600 million, -9%) and Mexico with an 11.2% share (US$271 million, -6.6%).

Table 4 shows the average values of tile (CIF + duty) from the ten largest exporting countries (based on volume) in 2024. These values are significantly affected by the mix of tiles imported, with different types of tiles impacting the average value, in addition to differences in pricing for the same types of tile.

Once again in 2024, Italian tiles had the highest average price of $24.69/m², down 4.8% from $25.94/m² in 2023. Spanish average value also decreased from $20.35/m² to $19.03/m² (-6.5%).

The average price of Indian tiles decreased for the second straight year, from $6.88/m² in 2023 to $6.64/m² in 2024 (-3.5%), the lowest price among the ten largest exporting countries.

According to figures from Statistics Canada, Canadian ceramic tile consumption last year was 31.8 million m² (342.7 million sq. ft.), up 1.8% from 2023. As there is no significant ceramic tile production in Canada, imports approximately equal consumption.

The five countries from which the most tiles were imported into Canada in 2024 based on volume were:

• China (8.7 million m², -1.8% in volume; and +1% in value FOB)

• Italy (7.6 million m², +8%; and +1.6% in value FOB)

• Spain (4.1 million m², +4.8%; and -2.2% in value FOB)

• Turkey (3.4 million m², +1.3%; and -10.1% in value FOB)

• India (3.1 million m², +5.2%; and -5.3% in value FOB)