Articles
U.S. Tariff Rulings on Appeal
MSI maintained that the determination of producers of quartz surfaces should include fabricators, citing that they “perform an essentially operation in the QSP (quartz-surface product) production process, increasing the value of slabs by 35-40 percent.” MSI also noted other areas where Commerce appeared to be inconsistent in its definition of producers, including in its 2018 investigation concerning Chinese quartz-surfaces. Read More
November Existing-Home Sales Rise, Median Price Increases Across All Regions
Existing-home sales rose in November, denoting three consecutive months of increases, according to the National Association of Realtors. Three of the four major U.S. regions reported growth in monthly sales, while the fourth region held steady in November. From a year-over-year perspective, only one region experienced a rise in sales as the three others saw home sales decline. Read More
Pending Home Sales Down in November Amid High Housing Demand
"There was less pending home sales action this time around, which I would ascribe to low housing supply, but also to buyers being hesitant about home prices," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "While I expect neither a price reduction, nor another year of record-pace price gains, the market will see more inventory in 2022 and that will help some consumers with affordability." Read More
Housing surge drives affordability that can’t last
The homebuilding industry has been one of the strongest sectors in our economy this year. Housing starts should total almost 1.6 million units nationally, with more than 1.1 million single-family homes, which would make it the best year for the industry since 2006. The top five metro housing markets this year likely will be Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin, each contributing well over 20,000 new single-family homes to the market. Read More
Tile & stone grows in the face of inventory issues
“This has been a solid year for the tile category,” shared Crossville president Greg Mather. “I would expect the category to be up low double digits. A big part of this is fueled by Q2 comparisons versus the heart of lockdowns in 2020, but even into Q3 and Q4, we are seeing pretty solid levels of demand.” Read More