Ed Hudson, MBA

Residential Sector Trends from the New Building Products Demand Meter

For more than 25 years, Home Innovation’s Annual Builder Practices and Consumer Practices Reports have offered unparalleled insight into the ever-changing picture of demand for residential building products. The industry, particularly manufacturers of building products, has grown to rely on these annual reports to support their financial forecasting, measure sales force effectiveness, track competitive product activity, and scope out new product and market opportunities. 

So what could be more powerful to market intelligence professionals than an annual update of building product demand? Quarterly updates on building products demand in an interactive, easy-to-use format!

We are announcing a partnership between Home Innovation and John Burns Research and Consulting... the all-new Building Products Demand Meter (the Demand Meter). 

In recent times, changes in market demand for specific product categories—lumber, windows, interior finishes, and others—are happening more quickly and are becoming harder to predict. Just in the past few years, the COVID pandemic, then supply chain constraints, rising prices and affordability issues, and now interest rates have all caused rapid swings in market direction that require business adjustments. More frequent updates on product demand have become a business necessity. 

John Burns Research and Consulting’s new Demand Meter (powered by Home Innovation’s unparalleled market demand data) uncovers the key economic drivers of 18 building product category purchases which, accurately track and forecast market demand volume each quarter. The Demand Meter can be seen in aggregate, or filtered separately by new home and remodeling purchases. 

A quick look at the Demand Meter this quarter reveals mostly negative growth for residential building products in 2023 overall—single digit declines in 14 categories and growth in the remaining categories by less than 2 percent. Weakness is most evident in the New Construction, where installed volumes will decline in 16 of 18 categories. In Repair and Remodeling, only eight out of the 18 categories are showing demand declines in 2023. 

The new Demand Meter uses the findings from the 2023 Builder and Consumer Practices surveys, which revealed some unexpected changes. For example, findings of the builder survey showed that slab-on-grade concrete foundations and pre-finished exterior materials are growing in popularity, hinting that affordability issues, rising materials costs, and labor shortages are affecting product choice in new homes. In home remodeling, style trends in the kitchen are favoring easy-to-install and maintain vinyl flooring. 

Kitchen cabinets are losing ornate designs and natural wood finishes in favor of simple design and painted finishes. And who would have thought that butcher block countertops would return to popularity like they did in 2022? With the Demand Meter predicting an increase in the countertop replacement market in 2023, this may represent a market growth opportunity for their manufacturers.

Combining rich detail of Home Innovation’s Builder and Consumer Practices Data with John Burns Research and Consulting’s prowess in building products demand forecasting is a powerful combination of data tools to keep your business a step ahead of your competitors. 

Learn more about the Building Products Demand Meter here.

To see which of your building product categories are covered by the Builder and Consumer Practices reports, visit our Market Research section. The 2023 Builder and Consumer Practices Reports contain data at the National, Census Division, State, Metropolitan area, and County levels. Contact us for a sample report or to learn how we can build custom reports to help achieve your research goals. 

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