Articles

Business conditions at architecture firms softened in March, as the AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score declined to 43.6 for the month. Read More

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, according to the “advance” estimate. In the fourth quarter of 2023, real GDP increased 3.4 percent. Read More

Despite higher interest rates last month, new home sales rose in March due to limited inventory of existing homes. However, the pace of new home sales will be under pressure in April as mortgage rates moved above 7 percent this month, which is expected to moderate sales and increase the use of builder sales incentives this spring, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Read More

At the end of Q1, there were 6,065 projects with 702,990 rooms in the pipeline, according to the Q1 2024 U.S. Hotel Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE). This new all-time high represents a 9% year-over-year (YOY) increase in projects and a 7% YOY increase in rooms compared to last year. Read More

U.S. ceramic tile consumption in 2023 was 2.85 billion square feet, down 7.3% from the previous year, according to the Tile Council of North America. Revenue in dollars declined 8.1%. Read More

Annual expenditures for improvements and repairs to owner-occupied homes are projected to decrease this year and into Q1 2025, but at a moderating rate, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Read More

"The Wall Street Journal’s latest quarterly survey of business and academic economists shows forecasters ratcheting up their expectations for economic growth, inflation and the level of future interest rates. Read More

Privately‐owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,321,000, 14.7% below the revised February estimate of 1,549,000 and is 4.3% below the March 2023 rate of 1,380,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Read More

"It has been two years since forecasters felt this good about the economic outlook,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Read More

Consumer sentiment declined 1.9% in early April to 77.9 but rose 22.3% YOY, according to preliminary estimates from the University of Survey of Consumers. Read More