Architects have complained that their profession seems stuck in the past, particularly in regard to home building. Home building is more personal in nature than nonresidential construction. The builders' customers are individuals and families, who are usually trying to build a nest, not make a statement. Some slow progress toward building sleek, energy-efficient houses has been made. Autodesk first found its place on the drawing desk by selling software that ran on ordinary PCs instead of million-dollar giant computers.
Home construction is a good business, at least in recent years.
In 1997 low mortgage interest rates helped boost new home sales to about 800,000 nationwide, while single-family housing starts totaled 1.1 million. The value of new housing keeps growing as upper-income buyers demand bigger houses with more amenities. Baby boomers, now in their peak homeowning years, keep trading up to more expensive homes. Companies such as Toll Brothers , which builds luxury homes on the East Coast, are profiting from this trend. At the same time, favorable interest rates and low inflation have helped renters buy their first homes, with minorities anchoring the first-time buyer market in many areas.