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2020Q3 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Architectural & Design Sector
Houzz Research
July 14, 2020
Findings from the Q3 2020 Houzz Renovation Barometer, which tracks residential renovation market expectations, project backlogs and recent activity among businesses in the architectural and design services sector.
The Expected Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects increased significantly to 67 in Q3 (compared to 35 in Q2): This is a result of higher expectations for project inquiries at 71 (compared to 31 in Q2) and expectations for new committed projects at 64 (compared to 39 in Q2). Among the two reporting business groups, architects reported a 22-point increase in overall expectations to 64 relative to Q2, while interior designers’ expectations increased more substantially to 73 (up 51 points relative to Q2) and are still below the expectations in the beginning of the year. Expectations for project inquiries and new committed projects across the nine Census divisions have recovered from the drops reported in Q2. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator increased to 4.5 weeks nationally at the start of Q3 (relative to Q2): The overall backlog for the architectural and design services sector is 0.2 weeks shorter than the same period last year. Among the two reporting business groups, architects’ project backlog increased to 5.5 weeks (up 1.9 weeks relative to Q2), and interior designers’ backlog decreased to 2.8 weeks (down 0.9 weeks relative to Q2). Backlogs increased across all regional divisions and vary from 4.0 weeks (New England division) to 4.9 weeks (Mountain division) across the nine Census divisions. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Recent Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects increased to 48 in Q2 (compared to 44 in Q1): The overall indicator follows recent project inquiry activity, which increased to 53 in Q2 (up 14 points), and new committed projects, which declined to 43 in Q2 (down seven points). Among the two reporting business groups, overall recent activity increased to 50 (up nine points) for architects and decreased by five points to 45 as reported by interior designers. The decline in business activity among interior designers is consistent across all nine Census divisions. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q3 2020 Barometer was fielded from June 27 through July 10 and garnered responses from 370 architects and 608 interior designers on Houzz (n=978 in the architectural and design services sector). See detailed methodology here (PDF).
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