What are Valley home-building executives doing these days while they wait for the economy to perk up and new homes to be in demand once again?
Some are studying data and asking themselves questions such as: Where did we go wrong? How can we learn from this? When will the market change?
Some of them, including
The report was published this spring by Frank Owens, a Scottsdale-based executive recruiter who has specialized in the home-building industry for 25 years. He still handles executive staffing, but the economy and personal interests added focus.
“I enjoy data, and you’ve got to know your business well to talk intelligently about what is happening,” said Owens, who started compiling various housing reports three years ago. “I put it on my (Web) site, and the builders just loved the information.”
That led him to examine historical trends of building permits issued, particularly in the < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />
He wanted to trace data back to 1960 for multiple markets across the country. That necessitated spending many hours last summer at the
“It was an enormous job. The Census (Bureau) would change format and tables, but the people at ASU were fabulous,” Owens said. “To my knowledge, this information hasn’t been compiled in one document anywhere.”
Hilton concurred.
“There are people who provide some of that data, but no one has it to the degree of completeness that Frank has done it over such a long period,” he said.
With all of the information he gleaned by the end of 2008, Owens published the data into four
The report will be updated yearly, probably by the end of January, when Owens gets the data from the Census Bureau.
“What is cool is when we have the 2009 figures, that will represent 50 years of permits,” he said.
While The Frank Report is driven largely by trends in building permits, other local research firms provide an amalgam of housing-related data.
One of the longest-operating local housing data firms is RL Brown Housing Reports, which has been churning out reports since the mid-1980s. It focuses on monthly analysis and year-to-year comparisons of new home closings, permitting and resales in the
A more recent entry into the housing data industry is
“We spend time with builder representatives, developers, lenders, appraisers and auditors in an effort to understand the markets more thoroughly,” he said.
Owens said he will continue to use The Frank Report as a tool to augment his executive search capabilities. He feels that since he provides data from across the country, Valley home builders can get a leg up on the national scene. So far, he has not had to advertise his product to get sales.
So, what are some things Owens discovered from his research?
• Not since the 1960s have all
• Migration patterns from the Northeast and
•
• The
Housing Data
Housing statistics and trends are compiled by several consulting firms and Arizona State University, including:
The Frank Report: www.frankowensltd.com
RL Brown Housing Reports: www.rlbrownreports.com
Foresight Realty Advisors: www.foresightrealtyadvisors.com
Belfiore Real Estate Consulting: www.belfioreconsulting.com
The Information Market: www.theinformationmarket.com
ASU Realty Studies: www.poly.asu.edu/realty