REALTORS® with an eye on real estate renovations in the coming year may want to read this week’s blog post from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
Senior Research Fellow Kermit Baker offers a list of ideas he’ll use as he watches the national economy and tries to assess how it will affect home remodeling professionals in, “The Canary Signs: 10 indicators that show remodelers’ current and future market conditions.” Baker is also the project director for the Remodeling Futures Program at JCHS and is the chief economist for the American Institute of Architects in Washington, D.C. In the latter position, he analyzes business and construction trends in the U.S. economy.
Baker identifies indicators from three groups. His national indicators are:
- stock market benchmarks,
- consumer confidence,
- interest rates and
- government policy.
His local indicators are:
- house prices,
- inventory and
- hiring.
His company indicators are:
- project types,
- leads and
- young households.
