Door and Window Market Magazine
By Drew Vass
Housing starts are at their highest pace since the Great Recession, added Casey Olson, senior industry analyst for Principia Consulting. As a result, demand for doors and windows “has rebounded more quickly and stronger than anyone expected,” Olson said, as “New homes are being bought as soon as they’re up.” That phenomenon has brought about a rare change for housing statistics, explained Matt Ritchie, director of quantitative analysis for Principia Consulting. While there is usually a gap between the number of housing starts and the number of sales among single-family units, currently they’re at the same level.
“Really the only other time we’ve seen this is at the very trough, following the Great Recession,” Ritchie said, indicating that—at the present, at least—new construction is failing to keep pace with demand for housing in general.
While a backlog of demand for new homes has lingered in recent years, the dilemma has worsened, all but guaranteeing that builders will remain busy for the foreseeable future.
In order to supply new construction with doors and windows, manufacturers will have to contend with supply chain issues and a producer price index that’s steadily increasing, Ritchie said, but door and window companies agree that beats the alternative.