Houzz today released its 2019 Houzz U.S. State of the Industry, which provides an outlook on 2019 and review of 2018 performance for residential renovation and design businesses based on data reported by nearly 4,800 professionals, including builders/remodelers, architects, landscapers, and more.
Highlights include:
· Cautious optimism for 2019: More than half of residential renovation and design companies cite a positive outlook for 2019 (58-80%), although this is less than last year (71-88%). The majority of companies among six of the seven industry groups expect profits to increase in 2019 (63-70%) and revenue growth in the upper single digits (8-9%).
· Confidence in the national economy wavers: While companies maintain a positive outlook on the demand for their services in 2019, they are more likely to expect the national economy to deteriorate over the coming year (35-61%) than improve (11-18%).
· Rising costs of doing business: In 2018, firms across sectors experienced widespread challenges in the rising costs of doing business, with the construction sector reporting the greatest impact (76-81%). At least half of remodeling and design companies expect the costs of doing business to increase in 2019 (48-68%).
· Revenue growth positive despite deceleration: While average annual growth remained positive in 2018, five of the seven industry groups experienced a notable deceleration in average annual growth rates (5-8%), compared to 2017 (8-11%). These trends are consistent among businesses of all sizes. That said, more than half of companies feel that 2018 revenues met or exceeded their expectations (58-65%).
You can download the full report by clicking here.