Industry Research
Renovation Barometer
2020Q4 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Architectural & Design 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 62 in Q4 (compared to 67 in Q3): This is a result of decreases in expectations for both project inquiries at 62 (compared to 71 in Q3) and in new committed projects to 61 (compared to 64 in Q3). Among the two reporting business groups, architects reported a seven-point decrease in overall expectations to 57 relative to Q3, while interior designers’ expectations decreased by only three points to 70. Expectations among firms in the architectural and design services sector are below the levels a year ago in six out of nine Census divisions. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator remained steady at 4.5 weeks nationally at the start of Q4: The overall backlog for the architectural and design services sector is 0.4 weeks longer than the same period last year. Among the two reporting business groups, architects’ project backlog decreased to 4.3 weeks (down 1.2 weeks relative to Q3), and interior designers’ backlog increased to 4.8 weeks (up 2 weeks relative to Q3). Backlogs across all regional divisions vary from 3.4 weeks (West North Central division) to 5 weeks (East North Central and Pacific divisions) 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 61 in Q3 (compared to 48 in Q2): The overall indicator follows recent project inquiry activity, which increased to 60 in Q3 (up seven points, relative to Q2), and new committed projects, which jumped more significantly to 62 in Q3 (up 19 points, relative to Q2). Among the two reporting business groups, overall recent activity grew to 59 (up nine points) for architects and improved significantly to 64 as reported by interior designers. The recent business activity among firms in the architectural and design service sector is still above its levels across seven out of nine Census divisions relative to the same time period a year ago. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q4 2020 Barometer was fielded from September 24 through October 7 and garnered responses from 311 architects and 523 interior designers on Houzz (n=834 in the architectural and design services sector). See detailed methodology here (PDF).
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