Readers Respond: Starts Looking Up

As total housing starts crossed the 1.20-million mark in 2017, the industry looks ahead to what is hoped to be another in a line of steady growth in this widely watched metric. The latest HBSDealer poll reveals 64% of respondents expect at least 1.3 million total starts in 2018.

About 100 readers took the poll, which asked: “What do you expect for 2018?”

The reader responses were as follows:

• “1.1 million or lower,” 12%

• “1.2 million,” 23%

• “1.3 million,” 28%

• “1.4 million,” 14%

• “1.5 million,” 13%

• “1.6 million,” 1%

• “1.7 million or higher,” 8%

The poll remains open here.

A little background, since 2009, the total starts number has steadily improved as follows:

2009: 554,000

2010: 586,900

2011: 608,800

2012: 780,600

2013: 924,900

2014: 1,003,300

2015: 1,111,800

2016: 1,173,800

2017: 1,202,100 (preliminary figure)