National current market conditions—a weighted average of three indices dealing with major additions and alterations; minor additions and alterations; and maintenance and repair—ticked up slightly to 39.8 in the third quarter, from 38.1 in the second quarter of 2009. Unfortunately for the remodeling industry, anything below 50 shows that more remodelers are saying things are getting worse, not better. However, the downward trend may be slowing, NAHB says.
“Remodelers are no longer reporting markets deteriorating to the same degree as earlier in the year, but credit and financing of remodeling jobs remains a huge hurdle to overcome in closing sales,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Inaccurately low home appraisals also hurt remodelers, because they hamper both home equity loans and sales of existing homes that often stimulate remodeling.”
The RMI’s Future Expectations—an average of calls for bids, amount of work committed for the next three months, backlog of remodeling jobs, and appointments for proposals—also improved in the third quarter. Calls for bids increased to 46.5 from 38.8 in the second quarter, while appointments went up to 43.5 in the third quarter from 40.3 in the second. Amount of work and backlog of remodeling jobs increased to 27.5 and 37.2 in the third quarter, from 23.3 and 34.4, respectively, in the second.
So what does it all mean? If you’re a homeowner with a remodeling project ready to go, it’s still a buyer’s market, but it may not last long. Give our Design/Build Team a call today.