![]() ![]() Slaughter reports that, with less carpet used throughout the home, buyers will often opt for better-quality goods for the carpet they do buy. “A lot of builders say buyers want all hard surface, but carpet is the best acoustic insulator available.” In addition, Slaughter notes that the design options of carpet today offer more opportunities for style and personalization than ever before. “Hard surface is key today,” says Slaughter. However, the company’s Coretec Premier, used within higher-end homes, is its highest growth category for the builder market. “Buyers want products that will perform, look good and offer value,” Slaughter continues, “and that’s where we see a rise in resilient and LVP because of its high style with performance qualities and low maintenance.” In terms of vinyl, the company reports that LVT continues to take share from other categories in the builder channel, and, for Shaw, that is Floorté. Value is another key component in providing finishes for homebuilding. Builders take that information and compress it down to be more manageable, to make stylized choices but not wacky ones. “With the amount of design information at our fingertips today with Pinterest, Instagram and influencers, buyers are savvier than they have ever been, but they suffer from information overload. “This removes the guesswork but is not super cookie cutter,” says Slaughter. One of the ways that builders help consumers feel more comfortable is through curation-assembling packages of finishes that have broad appeal, which assuages some of the buyer’s anxiety in making choices. “Over the last three years, as we are spending more time in our homes, we have realized that we do want personalized spaces, so it’s a fine line,” she says. She notes, however, that the pandemic challenged that sentiment. Even though a buyer is entering a 30-year mortgage, their sentiment is that they don’t want to over-personalize a home due to the potential for resale.” “The builder channel tends to be a bit behind in trends-even more than retail-and, traditionally, it tends to be conservative due to the consumer’s awareness of resale. Some builders construct entire communities of build-to-rent homes, which, as multifamily builders do, they either operate themselves or sell to private equity.Ĭurrently, the biggest volume of single-family homebuilding is taking place in the “smile” states, including California, Arizona, Texas, the Carolinas and Florida, says Butterfield.Ĭhristine Slaughter, national director of design and marketing for Shaw’s builder and multifamily business, points out that in the builder business it’s important to differentiate between what’s trending and what’s selling. That is expected to recede slightly this year in February 2023, the median cost declined to $438,200.įor those entry-level buyers who have outgrown apartments but aren’t ready to commit to the high cost of ownership, build-to-rent properties offer a useful alternative, providing the privacy and outdoor features of a single-family property without the stress of unexpected costs that comes with homeownership. Demand did not dry up the cost of buying simply became unattainable. “That exceeds the threshold of acceptance on cost.”īutterfield emphasizes that the stall in entry-level home buying is not due to a lack of interest but to the prohibitive cost to do so. ![]() “Those renting today aren’t willing to commit dollars for a home that might have run $350,000 a few years ago and is now marked at $475,000,” says Dan Butterfield, vice president of Dal-Tile residential sales. In spite of that, builders continue to build, says Smith, adding, “There may be some indication that the new normal of sticker shock due to interest rates is wearing off a bit, so we may see a return to health in spring and summer.”Īs one would expect, entry-level home sales are under the greatest pressure in the current market, as buyers of this tier have the least financial flexibility. But inflation negatively impacted a factor that was already pressured by supply chain costs-affordability-which priced some buyers out of the market and encouraged others to stay put, locked into their current home with the 2.5% and 3% interest rates that were the norm two years ago. Throughout most of 2022, “it was build it and sell it,” says Jay Smith, vice president of Shaw’s builder, multifamily and specialty markets businesses. ![]() Within the last six months, the builder market has changed dramatically. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |