World Housing

World housing demand to increase 3.5% annually through 2016
Demand for housing is projected to spur the construction of 60.4 new housing units in 2016, an increase of 3.5 percent per annum. The strongest annual growth in construction will be in industrialized countries that had depressed housing markets in 2011. For most of these countries, the impressive growth rates will still leave the 2016 level of construction below that of a decade earlier, prior to the global financial crisis and resulting recession. In the US, for example, new housing construction will advance 18 percent per year to 1.5 million units in 2016, although that represents only 70 percent of the construction activity in 2006. Western Europe will also experience robust growth in new housing construction over the forecast period, rising 6.3 percent per annum to 1.8 million units.

China, Africa/Mideast to generate most new units
Housing construction in developing regions generally felt less of an impact from the global economic downturn in 2009 (with the notable exception of some markets in the Arabian peninsula), so growth through 2016 will be less fevered than in many industrialized countries. Ongoing rural-to-urban migration and increases in the number of households will underpin demand for new housing units in developing regions through 2016. Both the Africa/Mideast region and China will enjoy solid yearly gains. In the aggregate, those countries will generate 56 percent of the increase in construction of new housing units.

Multifamily housing to outpace single-family units
Multifamily housing units will record faster gains in new construction through 2016 than will single-family units. Increasing urbanization in developing countries will contribute to the trend. In the Africa/Mideast region, for instance, multifamily housing unit construction will accelerate to 4.4 percent per year through 2016. In that region and worldwide, however, single-family housing units will continue to constitute a majority of new housing construction.

World housing stock to increase 1.8% annually
The world housing stock was approaching two billion units in 2011, roughly one percent larger than the number of households. The Asia/Pacific region had the largest housing stock, with its nearly one billion units accounting for 51 percent of the world total; China alone represented 21 percent of the world total. The Africa/ Mideast region had the second largest housing stock in 2011, with 313 million units, or 16 percent of the world total. In the aggregate, Western Europe and North America together accounted for just under one-fifth of the housing stock.

The world stock of housing is expected to increase 1.8 percent per annum through 2016 to 2.1 billion units, a deceleration from the 2001-2011 period as new household formation slows. The most rapid increases in the housing stock will be in the Africa/Mideast region, fueled by above-average population growth. Gains will be driven both by new household formation and by efforts to expand the availability of housing for families who currently share space in one house. Increases in the housing stock in Central and South America will also surpass the world average, expanding 1.9 percent annually through 2016 to 155 million units. The Asia/Pacific region will retain its position as the leader in housing stock at 1.1 billion units, despite a deceleration in housing construction in China.

Please Note: Freedonia requires that, for PDF orders, clients sign a confidentiality agreement prior to fulfillment of PDF email delivery.