I have been brooding on and on the state of U.S. housing market. We saw stellar performances during year 2005, but estimations for year 2006 have been slightly less enthusiastic. We haven’t gotten to far into year 2006 and already some alarming sings are sprouting up. KB Home informs us that their orders are down and cancellations are up. This is tough situation for any company. It is not as bad as is sound though, because KB Home has massive backlog of orders that will carry it thorough most part of the year, but it remains to be seen what happens on the second half of the year.
Jan 062010
FORTUNE magazine has chosen Hovnanian Enterprises as one of the 100 fastest-growing companies in the U.S. for a third consecutive year. Such a growth mirrors the growth of U.S. housing market. Company is also doing many things right on its own right. Market share has been growing steadily and product portfolio has been diversifying.
One thing that puzzles me is that why house builders, despite widening product portfolios, largely neglect the market segment of log homes. Is it because normal house building is easy to subcontract to smaller builders, resulting into a management firm? Log home manufacturers make log home kits that are then mostly assembled by subcontracting companies. Are log home companies on housing business at all or are they at wood processing business?