Housing, the roaring 20s, and beyond

During the recession of the 2000s and early 2010s, the number of home builders dropped by more than 50 percent. Falling from nearly 100,000 homebuilders to 48,261, the result was a housing shortage of 6.74 million single-family homes. In spite of this shortage, there’s a bright outlook for the 2020s. 

Here’s the good news for home builders, integrators, manufacturers, and others in the home building industry: A recent report published by Builder Partnerships and written by Charles C. Shinn Jr., PhD, The Roaring 2020s: Housing’s Best Decade, suggests that baby boomers and millennials are expected to fuel high demand for housing throughout this decade. Beyond the 2020s, millennials are expected to lead all other demographic groups in demand for housing for the following 40 years.*

An unexpected rise in demand for housing in spite of the Coronavirus pandemic has caused both positive and negative business conditions for home builders. Drops in interest rates and increases in savings rates beginning last spring helped home buyers purchase homes, while intermittent shutdowns have caused drops in home sales. 

During the 2020’s, millennials and baby boomers are both expected to modify their housing situations. Millennials are entering the home buying stage, while boomers are op