Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Fast Fact: Housing Starts Fail to Keep Up with Household Formations
December 9,
2019 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
The rebound of residential construction continues to be slow well past the recession causing the affordability for middle-income households to narrow, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At a time when Millennials are fully entering their home buying years, many are being locked out – not boding well for the furniture industry.
Through 2018, the furniture industry has shown consistent growth, but industry sales slowed in the first quarter of 2019 – only increasing by 1.8 percent from 2018 Q1 to 2019 Q1. Meanwhile housing starts through May of this year are showing negative growth, down 1 percent compared to last year. Household formations are increasing at a faster pace in recent years – 112,000 units higher than housing starts from 2017 to 2018.
For an in-depth look at the numbers, click here.