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2022Q3 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Construction Sector
Houzz Research
July 19, 2022
Findings from the Q3 2022 Houzz Renovation Barometer, which tracks residential renovation market expectations, project backlogs and recent activity among businesses in the construction sector.
The Expected Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects decreased to 62 in Q3 (compared to 67 in Q2): The expectations for both project inquiries and new committed projects declined quarter-over-quarter (from 65 to 62 and from 69 to 63, respectively). These declines are aligned with tempered expectations reported by the two business groups. Expectations decreased 4 points among build-only remodelers to 69 in Q3 (compared to 73 in Q2) and 6 points among design-build remodelers (56, compared to 62 in Q2). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator is 10.5 weeks nationally at the start of Q3: Backlogs reached a record high at the start of Q2, and now are only slightly shorter (0.3 weeks) than a year ago. The overall backlog for the construction sector is still more than twice as long compared to the same period in 2019. Among the two reporting business groups, the backlogs are at 8.8 weeks for build-only firms and are at 12.3 weeks among design-build firms. Compared to the same period last year, wait times are shorter by nearly 2 weeks for build-only and by more than 1 week among design-build firms.
Geographically, backlogs vary from 9.2 weeks (Mountain division) to 13.8 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 decreased to 63 in Q2 2022 (compared to 71 in Q1): This follows decreases in project inquiry activity to 60 in Q2 (compared to 70 in Q1) and new committed projects to 65 (down 7 points relative to Q1). The decline in the recent activity indicator for the construction services sector was driven by build-only remodelers (down 11 points compared to 72 in Q1). Design and build remodelers also reported a decline in recent business activity to 64 in Q2 (compared to 71 in Q1). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q3 2022 U.S. Houzz Renovation Barometer was fielded from June 30 through July 11, 2022 and garnered responses from 225 build-only remodelers and 363 design and build remodelers (n=588 in the construction sector). See detailed methodology here.
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