Industry Research
Renovation Barometer
2021Q2 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Architectural & Design Sector
Findings from the Q2 2021 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 to 74 in Q2 (compared to 68 in Q1): This is a result of a significant increase in expectations for project inquiries to 77 (compared to 66 in Q1) and a slight decrease in new committed projects to 70 (compared to 71 in Q1). Among the two reporting business groups, architects reported a five-point increase in overall expectations to 74 relative to Q1. Expectations among interior designers also increased to 73 in Q2 (compared to 67 in Q1). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator increased to 8.4 weeks nationally at the start of Q2: The overall backlog for the architectural and design services sector is more than one month (4.8 weeks) longer than the same period last year. Among the two reporting business groups, architects’ project backlog increased to 10.6 weeks (up 4.5 weeks relative to Q1), and interior designers’ backlog remained relatively steady at 4.7 weeks (down 0.2 weeks relative to Q1). Backlogs across all regional divisions vary from 7.7 weeks (Pacific division) to 9.0 weeks (Mountain and West North Central divisions) across the nine Census divisions. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, backlogs have almost tripled across all nine Census divisions as reported by firms in the architectural and design services sector. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Recent Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects increased to 75 in Q1 (compared to 64 in Q4, 2020): The overall indicator follows recent project inquiry activity, which increased significantly to 75 in Q1 (up 12 points, relative to Q4, 2020), and new committed projects increased to 75 in Q1 (up 11 points, relative to Q4, 2020). Among the two reporting business groups, overall recent activity grew to 79 (up 16 points) for architects and to 69 (up three points) as reported by interior designers. The recent business activity among firms in the architectural and design service sector is above its levels relative to the same time period a year ago. See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q2 2021 Barometer was fielded from March 25 through April 8 and garnered responses from 294 architects and 432 interior designers on Houzz (n=726 in the architectural and design services sector). See detailed methodology here (PDF).
See Related Stories:
See Related Stories: