Articles

The U.S. do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement industry is projected to continue to show continued growth in the market over the next several years. Several studies, including HomeAdvisor have reported that it's safe to say that the home improvement industry is in excess of $400 billion per year. Read More

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is urging members, and all residential construction companies, to halt work for at least 10 minutes on Thursday, April 16, to educate workers on what they should do to keep themselves safe from coronavirus and to help "flatten the curve" for everyone. NAHB has developed a blueprint for builders to conduct these COVID-19 safety stand downs. Read More

U.S floor coverings manufacturer and retailer sales were about to take off in 2020 when the coronavirus hit the country. In the first two months of 2020 housing starts soared, increasing by 35.4 percent. This followed a nearly 20 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 2019, after being flat over the first three quarters of the year.  Existing home sales also increased at double-digit rates in early 2020, after rebounding in the fourth quarter of 2019 from weak sales earlier in the year. The rebound in existing home sales resulted in homeowner residential improvement spending also increasing close to 20 percent over the first two months of 2020. And then the country was shut down. Read More

Millions more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, as businesses continue to lay off and furlough workers amid the coronavirus outbreak. Read More

"Before the coronavirus pummeled the U.S. economy, housing was on the rise with January and February new home sales numbers posting their highest reading since the Great Recession," said NAHB chairman Dean Mon, a home builder and developer from Shrewsbury, N.J.  "The demand is clearly there, and as this study shows, we expect that housing will play its traditional role of helping to lead the economy out of recession later in 2020 when the pandemic subsides." Read More

U.S. residential construction showed good health in 2019. Negative forecasts for 2020 24/03/2020 from CWW Ceramic World Web Total new home starts grew by 3.2%, while new… Read More

In 2019, U.S. ceramic tile consumption declined for the first time in a decade to 273.2 million sq.m. (-5,4% on 2018). This affected both the domestic production (83 million sq,m, -4.8%) and imports (193 million sq.m, -5.5%), with China dropping by 36.4%. Read More

Personal income increased 0.6 percent in February, the same increase as in January. Wages and salaries, the largest component of personal income, increased 0.5 percent in February, also the same increase as in January. Read More

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Read More

"The February numbers reflect the strong state of the market before coronavirus concerns set in," said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. "Given the momentum in the housing market at the start of the year, we do expect sales and construction activity to weaken during the third quarter; but housing's potential suggests it will be a sector that will help lead the economy during the eventual rebound once virus mitigation is complete." Read More