March 4,
2016 by in General 
This is the final factoid in a series of five factoids studying the recovering housing market by delving into the primary factors that determine a consumer’s home choices. Not only faced with the decision to rent or buy, households planning to move are making choices based on age, size and cost of housing structures.
According to the Census Bureau, “The conventional public policy indicator of housing affordability in the United States is the percent of income spent on housing. Housing expenditures that exceed 30 percent of household income have historically been viewed as an indicator of a housing affordability problem.”
In all occupied housing units owned or rented, the percent of residents spending 30 percent or more of household income has fallen from 36.4 percent of all units 2009 to 33.4 percent in 2014, a healthy sign. Homeowners spent a significantly less percentage of household income on housing over the last five years. Since 2009, the percent of owner-occupied units with owner’s spending over 30 percent of their income has fallen significantly from 30.4 percent of houses to 24.8 percent.
Traditionally, renters spend significantly more of their income on housing than owners and the percentages have held steady between 2009 and 2014. In 2014, 47.9 percent of renters spent 30 percent or more of household income on their monthly rental cost, almost double the percent of owners.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS)
February 26,
2016 by in General
This is the fourth in a series of five factoids studying the recovering housing market by delving into the primary factors that determine a consumer’s home choices. Not only faced with the decision to rent or buy, households planning to move are making choices based on age, size and cost of housing structures.
The monthly mortgage paid by homeowners has actually fallen somewhat since 2009; however, rents have increased significantly. Low interest rates of the past few years have made both refinancing existing mortgages and new purchases attractive.
In 2014, 18 percent of all owner-occupied housing units were paying over $2,000 in monthly mortgage payments down from 21 percent in 2009. In contrast, renter-occupied housing units costing more than $1,000 a month grew from 33.4 percent of all units in 2009 to 41.7 percent in 2014.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS)
February 19,
2016 by in General
The fourth quarter is traditionally Bedding’s lowest performer with 2015 following the pattern. Sales totaled an estimated $3.04 billion in the fourth quarter, increasing 1.9 percent over the same Q4 last year. Compared to the previous Q3 of this year, sales were down 19.3 percent. Year end, the bedding industry is estimated to be 6.2 percent higher than last year.
Note: Previously issued 2015 quarterly estimates have been revised.
Industry Growth Quarter to Quarter 2012 Q4 to 2015 Q4 Bedding Industry
Bedding sales in the fourth quarter of 2015 were up 1.9 percent quarter over quarter totaling $3.04 billion.
Note: Previously issued 2015 quarterly estimates have been revised.
Industry Sales 2007 to 2015 Bedding Industry
The Bedding industry continued to grow in 2015. Year-end sales of approximately $13.57 billion are 6.2 percent above 2014.
February 11,
2016 by in General
Note: Previously issued 2015 estimates have been revised.
Source: Impact Consulting Services, Inc. industry model.
The Industry grew 4.9 percent in Q4 of 2015 compared to Q4 of the previous year. Furniture and Bedding sales totaled $23.62 billion in Q4 which was 0.9 percent higher than the 2015 Q3.
Furniture (excluding Bedding) increased 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter over 2014 Q4. The holiday season pushed fourth quarter sales 4.8 percent above the third quarter (2015 Q3). Bedding sales were also up 1.9 percent over Q4 of last year. However, with the fourth quarter traditionally Bedding’s worst performing, 2015 Q4 followed pattern and fell 19.3 percent over the third quarter of 2015.
Industry Growth Quarter to Quarter 2012 Q4 to 2015 Q4 Furniture & Bedding
Note: Previously issued 2015 estimates have been revised.
Source: Impact Consulting Services, Inc. industry model.
The chart above shows quarter-over-quarter industry performance from 2012 Q4 through the fourth quarter of 2015.
Fourth quarter combined Furniture and Bedding industry sales of $23.62 billion were a 4.9 percent improvement over the same Q4 in 2014. Compared to last quarter (2015 Q3) sales improved 0.9 percent.
Furniture (excluding Bedding) increased 5.2 percent in 2015 Q4 versus the same quarter last year with sales of $20.57 billion – up from $19.52 billion in 2014 Q4.
Bedding quarter-over-quarter sales of $3.04 billion, up 1.9 percent over fourth quarter sales last year. Traditionally, the fourth quarter is Bedding’s lowest volume.
Industry Sales 2007 to 2015 Furniture & Bedding
For the year, sales are up 5.3 percent over 2014, finally surpassing pre-Recession levels and making it the highest volume year on record.
February 5,
2016 by in General
This is the third in a series of five factoids studying the recovering housing market by delving into the primary factors that determine a consumer’s home choices. Not only faced with the decision to rent or buy, households planning to move are making choices based on age, size and cost of housing structures.
This factoid shows that one thing is clear, single-family houses keep getting bigger. The average size of a new single-family home has grown 17.2 percent from 2,266 square feet in 2000 to 2,657 square feet in 2014. Meanwhile new apartment construction, which peaked in 2008 at 1,300 square feet on average, is holding now at 1,151 square feet.
Our next two factoids in this series will explore financial characteristics of the housing market by detailing monthly mortgage and rent costs as well as the percentage of household income spent on housing.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Survey of Construction
January 29,
2016 by in General
This is the second in a series of five factoids studying the recovering housing market by delving into the primary factors that determine a consumer’s home choices. Not only faced with the decision to rent or buy, households planning to move are making choices based on age, size and cost of housing structures.
Now that people are moving, what are the housing options? Consumers initially face the choice of purchasing or moving into a new versus old property. And with housing starts slow to recover from the recession, households are increasingly faced with an aging housing industry. This factoid shows the year current housing was built for all occupied housing units. (Note: Rental versus owner-occupied units is not shown separately as data showed no significant difference between the two.)
Particularly startling is that 28.7 percent of all housing is 55 plus years old and 55.4 percent over 35 years old. The majority of the housing inventory in 2014 (54.5 percent) was built between 1960 and 1999. Only 2.2 percent of housing units were built in the last four years and a total of 16.8 percent since 2000. Many current and potential homeowners are living in or considering older homes and face ongoing costs of renovations and repairs – potentially dipping into new furniture expenditures.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS)
January 22,
2016 by in General
This is the first in a series of four factoids studying the recovering housing market by delving into the primary factors that determine a consumer’s home choices. Not only faced with the decision to rent or buy, households planning to move are making choices based on age, size and cost of housing structures.
During the Recession, people generally put moving on hold. As the economy has improved, mobility has slowly increased and more households are changing residences. 60.6 percent of total U.S. housing units were moved into since the year 2000 and 38.4 percent in the last five years.
Apartments are particularly transient with 70 percent of apartment units moved into within that same five-year period. As expected, owner-occupied housing units are more stable with 20 percent of these units moved into in the last five years, and 56.7 percent since 2000.
Next week’s factoid will describe the aging of the housing inventory.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS)
January 15,
2016 by in General
This is the final factoid in a series of three factoids detailing a rise of renters in the Housing Industry over the past five years. Since 2009, renting has increased among householders of all ages, marital status, and income level.
Overall, apartment dwelling is increasing across all income levels 2009 to 2014. Households with incomes under $100,000 have been slowly migrating away from homeownership toward apartments. For incomes $50,000 to $99,999, ownership decreased by 6.0 percent while rentals increased 23.9 percent. The number of housing units with income under $50,000 declined in total 3.6 percent, with owner occupied units taking the hit. This income group makes up 65.8 percent of rental units.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS)
January 11,
2016 by in General
This is the second in a series of three factoids detailing a rise of renters in the Housing Industry over the past five years. Since 2009, renting has increased among householders of all ages, marital status, and income level.
The mix of household characteristics between owners and renters has changed very little in five years. As expected, married-couple families are the majority of owner occupied housing units – accounting for 60 percent in 2014. Surprisingly, householders living alone make up 27.8 percent of all housing units.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS)
January 4,
2016 by in General
This is the first in a series of three factoids detailing a rise of renters in the Housing Industry over the past five years. Since 2009, renting has increased among householders of all ages, marital status, and income level.
In the five year period 2009 to 2014 every age group saw an increase in the number of households renting versus owning. In addition, age groups under 55 years all experienced double-digit decreases in the number of homes owned.
Overall households in total grew 3.2 percent; however, owner-occupied units fell 1.3 percent while apartment and home rentals grew 11.4 percent. For homeownership, the largest segment continues to be the 65 and over age group, while the Under 35 group is the largest rental group.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS)