A month into the new year, the 2018 construction market observers have made their predictions for this year across various verticals. Within those forecasts, three numbers jumped out at us for key modular construction markets: 60,000, 28 and 9.2.
National Real Estate Investor predicts U.S. developers will open 60,000 new hotels rooms this year. Tempering that good news somewhat, the organization anticipates 2018 will be a peak year for new hotel room construction, with the volume falling off to 45,000 to 50,000 new rooms in 2019.
In senior living, the big demographic promise for years has been the Baby Boomers starting to reach retirement age. While the full Boomer wave hasn’t crested yet over the 80-year-old age of the typical traditional senior housing resident, other key market changes hold promise for the senior living construction market. The number of renters over age 55 increased 28% from 2009 to 2015, Senior Housing News reported in its story, “Top Senior Housing Trends in 2018.” With more of this age group choosing to rent rather than own their own homes, some senior living providers see an opportunity to market active living properties to these folks long before they’re ready for traditional senior housing.
In at least one way, the multi-family residential construction market looks like the hospitality market but offset by one year. While 2018 is shaping up to be a peak for hospitality, CBRE sees 2017 as the multi-family peak, with 2018 multi-family completions dropping 9.2% from the prior year.
Check back on this blog throughout the year, as we keep a watch on emerging construction trends.