Housing and Remodeling Market Insights

The webinar was led by Matt Saunders, JBREC senior vice president of building products research, and Elizabeth LaJeunesse, vice president of building products research, and it swam in deep macroeconomic waters. Included in the presentation were insights on inflation, international trade, immigration and interest rates.

Watch the replay here.

Among the highlights:

• The webinar followed by one day the announcement of a dramatic tariff reduction — from 125 percent to 30 percent — on Chinese imports, described as  “welcome news for all of us in building materials and building products, In terms of the inflationary consequences,” said Saunders. And the stock market’s subsequent rally indicates the potential for stronger growth under more manageable tariff levels, he said.

• “The three horsemen of remodeling” — high financing costs, material costs and consumer uncertainty— have emerged as an impediment to growth, and lead to an anticipation of spending declines in 2025 residential remodeling;

• Fed rate cuts are expected to be fewer and less severe over 2025, compared to when the Fed first cut rates in September of 2024.