Articles

The hotel industry has found some assurance in the recent resurgence of travel demand and the steady increase in hotel booking numbers over recent months. Pandemic exhaustion and pent-up demand for “get-aways” have led to a growing number of Americans becoming more open to travel. In addition to leisure travel, the business sector has a strong desire to travel and meet in person. Read More

Rental housing demand came roaring back in the second year of the pandemic, reducing vacancy rates and driving up rents, according to America’s Rental Housing 2022, a new report released by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. The report indicates that some of the rental rebound reflects the lack of inventory in the for-sale market, which has kept many higher-income renters from buying homes. At the same time, however, many lower-income households, and especially lower-income households of color, still struggle to pay the rent.  Read More

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its NAHB/Royal Building Products Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the fourth quarter, posting a reading of 83, up four points from the fourth quarter of 2020. The finding is a signal of residential remodelers' confidence in their markets, for projects of all sizes. Read More

Catalina Research has released its latest Kitchen and Bath Quarterly Update. According to the report, U.S. kitchen and bath product sales (shipments minus exports plus imports) continued to experience strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2021, despite a slowdown in housing demand. Kitchen and bath product sales could have increased by 13.5 percent in the fourth quarter compared to 18.8 percent over the first nine months of 2021. Read More

“Home building ended 2021 on a strong note; the Commerce Department on Wednesday reported that construction was started on a seasonally adjusted 1.7 million homes, at an annual rate, in December, up from November’s 1.68 million. In all of 2021, 1.6 million homes were started, marking the biggest year for starts since 2006. Read More

Spending for home improvements and repairs is expected to expand at a stronger pace in 2022, but signs point to some easing of growth by year end, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Read More

Total existing-home sales dropped 4.6% from November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.18 million in December, according to the National Association of Realtors. From a year-over-year perspective, sales waned 7.1% (6.65 million in December 2020). Despite the drop, overall sales for 2021 increased 8.5%.   Read More

While single-family starts dipped in December due to ongoing supply-side challenges, they still managed to post double-digit gains in 2021. Overall housing starts increased 1.4 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.70 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Read More

Total construction starts were flat in December with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $879.3 billion, according to Dodge Construction Network. Residential construction starts gained 4% in December 2021, while nonresidential building starts improved by 3%. Nonbuilding starts, however, declined 12%. Read More

Single‐family housing starts in December were at a rate of 1,172,000; this is 2.3% below the revised November figure of 1,199,000. The December rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 524,000. An estimated 1,595,100 housing units were started in 2021. This is 15.6% above the 2020 figure of 1,379,600. Read More