The Expert Podcast

So, are home builders and contractors in for a big boom, or is this going to be a bust? There's some conflicting evidence. First of all, we see that home builders and contractors' volumes are starting to ramp up. Interest rates dropped a little bit, and according to many outlets, home builders are increasing production, especially single-family homes, because of the 30-year mortgages. Some people predict that it's going to be a golden age for builders, meaning that the backlog of homes and the backlog of demand is going to keep builders busy for a very long time—2024, 2025, and beyond.

The question is: Is it going to be enough? Many industry analysts are predicting that even though the builders are going to ramp up, it's not going to be enough to ease the backlog of homes. Remember, real estate is about two sections: one is the parcel of land, the other is the improvements on the land—the construction. Many older homes are now starting to become replaceable. Meaning that if you had a house built in the '40s or '50s, which many houses were, there was a building boom in the '50s. You're going to have some of those houses need a complete remodel or new construction on the property. Maybe the floor plan is outdated.

You're seeing this a lot in South Florida, where smaller homes were built as vacation homes, and now people want to have them serve as a primary residence. It's going to be interesting to see how much of this demand filters down to builders, contractors, subcontractors, and even employees of the builders.

What are you seeing in your area, and what do you think about the future of home building and construction as an industry? Is there enough qualified skilled labor to support the demand?