With the housing market getting a little tight, many homeowners are turning to remodeling and renovations. And while the majority of home remodels concern the bathroom, kitchen, or master bedroom, there are quite a few homeowners that are just looking to improve their floors. However, despite this interest in home renovation and flooring renewal, the flooring market isn’t seeing massive growth.
That is not to say that the market isn’t growing; its expected to grow more than the previous year — it’s just not growing as much as initially hoped. However, analysts say this is to be expected, as the economy had a sluggish start this year. National GDP only grew by 1.2% overall, which had an effect on the flooring market. Even epoxy, a floor coating that can last five to 10 years depending on traffic, was affected.
Economists are expecting that there will be a 2.1% growth for 2017 as a whole, which could point to a turnaround in the near future. Santo Torcivia, an economist with Floor Focus, is predicting that the flooring and floor covering market will grow by 5% by the end of the year. This is compared to the 3.1% growth that was experienced in 2016.
One of the key driving factors for the flooring business this year will be the housing market. Numbers are continuing to change from month to month, but housing sales are predicted to be around 1.2 million for the year. This is an increase from the year prior, though still fewer sales than two years ago. The biggest issue for the market is that there is a shortage of homes for sale overall.
A shortage of ready-to-build lots and skilled labor is driving this shortage. Compared to two years ago, the market took a 2.3% dip in the sale of homes.
The nation’s growth is currently below the 3% to 4% that President Trump had originally intended. It will take time for the president’s changes to taxes and infrastructure to occur, meaning that things are not likely to change much in his first year in the White House.
For now, the sluggish but steady economic growth that has characterized the previous few years is here to stay.