And with personal income growing, consumers do have the money available to spend. In addition, revenues of the home building retailers are not solely dependent upon sales of new homes, but also on spending by existing homeowners. The home renovation industry is sensitive to interest rate levels, housing turnover, consumer debt levels, concerns over job security, and even the weather. New housing starts are also important, but the sales opportunity from housing turnover is three times larger than from the sale of new houses. The good news is that U.S. home ownership is rising.
Homeowners spend more to maintain and improve their homes than do renters.
As a result, many homes are old enough to warrant some major repair. Also, baby boomers are increasingly spending much of their time at home with their families. This suggests that they are likely to spend a larger portion of their disposable income on their home than in prior years. In addition, the number of households is on the rise, fueling purchases for household products and remodels. The Census Bureau reports there currently are about 100 million households, which should increase to about 103 million by 2000.