Two articles caught my attention today. The first was a blog post by National Association of Home Builders economist Robert Dietz titled “Single Family Home Size: Flat Trends”. Mr. Dietz reported that according to third quarter 2015 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and…
According to recently released data from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau, sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 2.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 546,000 units in May. This is the highest new-home sales rate since February 2008. The National Association of Realtors reported that the…
A recent survey of 503 Millennials (people ages 25 to 34 including 203 current homeowners and 300 individuals who plan to buy a house within 12 months) reveals that Millennial home buyers are interested in maximizing space and affordability while maintaining a level of community found in urban environments, and…
A recent survey conducted by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, LLC offered some insight into why prospective shoppers are reluctant to purchase. Of the more than 20,000 people who had recently visited a new home community and responded to the survey questions, 75% were current homeowners, 20% were renters, and…
Your home is an investment, and the value of that investment is determined by the housing market. According to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, nearly two-thirds of homeowners say they will invest in renovation projects this year. You can increase the value of your home as an…
Are you ready to buy or build a new home? If so, you probably read all the news stories and predictions that the market has a long way to go before it starts to recover and that home prices will continue to fall for months or years to come. If…
The 2010 AVID Home Design Driver Research Survey provides some insight into what features today’s home buyers equate with a green home. AVID Ratings is a a leading provider of enterprise-level surveys specializing in the home building industry. The AVID survey studied the preferences of nearly 12,000 North Americans who…
For the past five months (September 2009 through January 2010), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen 0.2% per month. Building materials prices are an exception to general inflation trends, which appear to be tame. On a year-over-year basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is up 2.6%. Excluding food and…
The headline read “Construction Worker Rated the 8th Worst Job.” Being a Builder who started out as construction worker, I just had to investigate further. Here is what I found. The headline referred to JobsRated.com’s 2010 Jobs Rated report which the website says “offers a comprehensive analysis of 200 different…
Welcome to the first in my series of blog posts on the Business of Building. Let’s start with a quiz. In a normal market, what is the average Net Profit for a Builder? Is it 21% to 30% 17.3% to 20.9% 3.7% to 8.7% -5% to 0% It has…
