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2022Q4 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Construction Sector
Houzz Research
October 11, 2022
Findings from the Q4 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 50 in Q4 (compared with 62 in Q3): The expectations for both project inquiries and new committed projects declined quarter-over-quarter (from 62 to 47 and from 63 to 53, respectively). These declines are aligned with tempered expectations reported by the two business groups. Expectations decreased to 46 among build-only remodelers in Q4 (compared with 69 in Q3) and declined 2 points among design-build remodelers (54, compared with 56 in Q3). See additional sub sector and regional data (PDF).
The Project Backlog Indicator is 10.5 weeks nationally at the start of Q4: The overall backlog for the construction sector is still more than twice as long compared with the same period in 2019. Among the two reporting business groups, the backlogs are at 10.5 weeks for build-only firms and are at 10.4 weeks among design-build firms. Compared with the same period last year, wait times are longer by nearly 1 week for build-only and are shorter by more than 3 weeks among design-build firms.
Geographically, backlogs vary from 7.9 weeks (West South Central and Mountain divisions) to 12.6 weeks (East North Central division) across the nine Census divisions. Compared with the same quarter one year ago, backlogs for the construction sector are shorter across all 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 42 in Q3 2022 (compared with 63 in Q2): This follows decreases in project inquiry activity to 34 in Q3 (compared with 60 in Q2) and new committed projects to 51 (down 14 points relative to Q2). The decline in the recent activity indicator for the construction services sector was driven by build-only remodelers (down 27 points compared with 61 in Q2). Design and build remodelers also reported a decline in recent business activity to 50 in Q3 (compared with 64 in Q2). See additional subsector and regional data (PDF).
The Q4 2022 U.S. Houzz Renovation Barometer was fielded from September 27 through October 5, 2022 and garnered responses from 130 build-only remodelers and 291 design and build remodelers (n=421 in the construction sector). See detailed methodology here.
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