Building Market Intelligence

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A 5-Year Delay in Homeownership, Other Big Shifts

by Chris Porter May 14, 2018

Generational definitions of millennial tend to be too broad. As our company’s housing demographer, I am responsible for bringing clarity on these categories to our clients. Here are two great charts and five interesting conclusions on household formation and homeownership …

What the Shrinking Middle Class Means for Housing

by Mikaela Sharp & Chris Porter & John Burns May 3, 2018

The widening gap in income distribution trends in the US has significant implications for home buying activity and homeownership. The shrinking size of the American middle class (those who make between two-thirds and double the median US household income*) has …

Give Us Music, Fresh Food, Wine, and Cornhole

by Kate Seabaugh May 1, 2018

Boomer masterplan developers still don’t understand us millennials. Their marketing tries to entice us with their version of cool: the flashiest new gadget, the most up to date home technology, or a community social connection. Our research (and my own …

Challenges Mount for First-Time Buyers

by Devyn Bachman April 20, 2018

One of our first-time home buyer team members just lost out on a home purchase, as only the top 5 bids (out of 20!) were given the opportunity to increase their offer! Homeownership costs continue to grow faster than incomes, …

Roll the DICE on a Growing Buyer Profile

by John Burns & Mikaela Sharp April 12, 2018

DICE, Dual Income College Educated (you heard the term here first!), households continue to increase in numbers. The number of households with two college educated spouses/partners in the labor force has exploded, increasing 13 times since the 1960s!!! . . …

California Has Density Solutions, but Not Enough New Housing

by Pete Reeb April 3, 2018

The big three housing markets—Texas, Florida, and California—all easily topped 100,000 building permits in 2017. Combined, they account for almost one of every three new homes permitted for construction in the US last year. Only one other state (North Carolina …

The Gen X Pivot: Fewer Sales, Better Design

by John Burns & Jenni Lantz & Mikaela Sharp March 29, 2018

Gen X is attracting a lot less attention from home builders these days. In the last four years, 11 publicly traded home builders have announced a new entry-level brand, and another 6 builders have announced a new retirement brand. The …

The Seven Sizzling Housing Markets

by Kate Seabaugh March 14, 2018

Seven markets are sizzling with new home construction today. We rank these markets based on our Burns Housing Market Hotness Index (see graph below and index description at the bottom), which encompasses fundamental supply/demand factors and our market strength ratings. …

The Rise of Modern Styles

by Jenni Lantz March 5, 2018

Three completely independent sources confirm that new home buyers increasingly prefer modern home styles: New home shoppers. 30% of the new home shoppers in our recently completed 2018 Consumer Insights survey prefer a modern exterior style, and 36% prefer a …

Wrong Again—New Home Sales Actually Rose in January

by Rick Palacios Jr February 28, 2018

Twitter: @RickPalaciosJr I suppose we should thank the Census Bureau for publishing incorrect conclusions and footnoting a 19%+/- margin of error. However, it gives our clients heartburn. Our clients pay us to be right—not to be overly bullish or bearish. …