Industry Research
Renovation Barometer
2020Q4 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Construction Sector
Findings from the Q4 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 decreased to 73 in Q4 (compared to 75 in Q3): The expectations for project inquiries decreased from 79 to 71 in Q4, while expectations for new committed projects increased from 71 to 75 in Q4 (up four points). Among the two reporting business groups, expectations were slightly tempered for both build-only and design and build remodelers compared to expectations in the last quarter. Expectations of build-only remodelers decreased to 75 (down one point, compared to Q3) and to 71 among design and build firms (down two points, compared to Q3). Expectations among firms in the construction sector are still below the levels in the same quarter a year ago in five out of nine Census divisions. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator increased to 7.2 weeks nationally at the start of Q4: The overall backlog for the construction sector is 2 weeks longer than the same period last year. Among the two reporting business groups, backlogs increased substantially among build-only remodelers to 7.3 weeks (up 1.9 weeks relative to Q3) and increased among design and build remodelers to 7.1 weeks (up 0.1 weeks relative to Q3). Backlogs vary significantly from 4.7 weeks (East South Central division) to 10.5 weeks (New England 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 significantly to 75 in Q3 (compared to 49 in Q2): This follows increases in project inquiry activity, which grew to 75 in Q3 (compared to 51 in Q2) and new committed projects to 75 (up 19 points relative to Q2). The overall recent activity indicator for the construction services sector was driven by growth reported by the two business groups. Build-only remodelers reported an increase in the recent business activity to 71 (compared to 48 in Q2), which is the highest activity reported since 2018 Q4. Design and build remodelers also reported a significant increase in recent activity to 78 in Q3 (up 28 points relative to Q2). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q4 2020 Barometer was fielded from September 24 through October 7 and garnered responses from 261 build-only remodelers and 601 design and build remodelers (n=862 in the construction sector). See detailed methodology here (PDF).
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