Making A Connection Between Residential Architects And Builders

New construction is on the rise and high-end residential builders are forming relationships with architects again. Many business relationships get their start by getting found online. Content marketing, especially blog articles are a way of coming up in search as an expert on building in your city or location. Whether you're firm is attracting clients, or professionals you can work with, increasing awareness of your skill set is important. Marketing your built environment firm will result in higher numbers of quality clients as the market continues to heat up. Here are some statistics on the strengths of new home building from the National Association of Home Builders.

The NAHB forecast shows that housing starts are likely to increase by nearly 25%. This is helped by a 32% rise in single-family construction. These gains will come in addition to those that had already been established in the last couple years, which indicated that housing starts increased by 18%, in numbers that are equivalent to 921,000.

The month of November 2013, showed a particularly good set of results despite some tough fall months. The total housing starts squeezed past one million, which was the first time it had done so since 2008. The forecast for 2015 is expected to show a continued steady increase in housing starts. There were 727,000 single-family starts which was a 20.8% increase from October and they haven’t been so high since December 2007.

Multifamily starts also saw a 26.8% increase which was represented with 364,000 housing starts.

Government data further demonstrated that the seasonally adjusted homes under construction for single family and multifamily has increased for the past 27 months consecutively. In August 2011, there were 413,000 and in November there were 685,000; an average of roughly 10,000 more each month.

These aren’t the only metrics which builders have recently seen grow. Despite the uncertainty of October and November - the December NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Marketing Index increased to 58 which was a rise of four points. This means that the index has now recovered to its peak which it last achieved in August before there was a rise in mortgage rates. In fact, the December 2013 index is 37 points higher than it was two years ago in December 2011.

The industry saw steady sales in November - although there was an insignificant drop by 2.1%. However, October 2013 had seen unusually high sales, therefore these results are fairly encouraging. The fact is that the first two calendar months of the fourth financial quarter had the highest level of sales since 2008.

Sales have been supported recently by the low-interest rates although these are likely to increase over the next few months. According to Federal Housing Finance Agency data, the interest rate for a new home purchase has fallen to 4.26%.

2015 will continue to see the upward trend with an 8% increase for multifamily starts.

The only poor news that seems to be reported is the fact that existing home sales decreased by 4.3%. However there was an increase in the average price for the house - but this has meant that some first-time buyers, who make up over a quarter of the market (28%), are struggling to afford a home.

Despite this, growth is expected throughout 2016 as the economy continues to recover.

Traditionally, the best way to market your architectural firm was to reach into your "Rolodex" to build new relationships or to go in the opposite direction and place an advertisement on your local national public radio station or regional "Home" magazine. The problem is that these are half efforts that take the first step in a multi-step process. A content-centric approach to marketing can increase your sales results by attracting new prospects and turning strangers into people who promote your business on your behalf.

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About Michael Conway and Means-of-Production

My firm builds Squarespace websites, Houzz profiles, and content marketing and advertising solutions for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Our all-in-one tactics attract the right clients with exceptional architectural photography and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition. Contact me for a free-of-charge consultation and marketing review. It takes about 40 minutes and you'll be provided a list of actionable improvements designed to solve your specific marketing problems.