Marketing Home Products

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright and builder Joseph Eichler would have smiled smugly if they had been sitting in the audience of the recent International Builders Show in Orlando. During a press conference at the show, panelists who judged the “Best American Living Awards” identified the hot trends of 2007. Our favorites are:

• the re-emergence of contemporary design, both with interior furnishings and exterior home design
• smaller homes
• more outdoor spaces

While it could be argued that Wright was an American proponent of the suburbs, with his Usonian philosophy, he designed homes that were smaller and more affordable than the average house at the time. He was one of the first to eliminate the formal areas and integrate the kitchen into the primary living space of the home, and with his use of cantilever design and strong horizontals, he defined “the contemporary home” in the 30’s and 40’s. His home interiors were filled with light and natural materials and the combined use of decorative glass, brick, wood and concrete blocks helped to revolutionize the whole homebuilding process.

Joseph Eichler, the famous Bay Area homebuilder of the 50’s and 60’s followed a similar path with his A-framed roof lines and low sweeping horizontal design. Eichler homes are easily recognized and cherished for their open living spaces, where an Eero Saarinen chair would look picture perfect for any photo shoot in a modern day shelter magazine.

His use of the atrium as a home design element brought the natural world indoors where it could be enjoyed. He used radiant-heated concrete floors, rear glass panels and exposed post and beam construction. Think Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren were the first in line to mix their contemporary colors for the paint market? They’d have to stand behind Joseph Eichler who created many colors that became standards.

Although the 2007 trend of smaller homes may be driven by boomer downsizing and energy costs, it is also an opportunity for builders and architects to provide more affordable housing. Wright and Eichler’s passion was to embrace this challenge in their respective times, while recognizing the importance of making their homes not only stylish, but livable by including outdoor spaces in their designs.

While the exterior contemporary home design excitement might not be widespread across America, we believe there is enough interest to stir things up in the builder’s market and the design studios. Sometimes it takes a look back to see what the master builders were trying to tell us about our “trends of the future”!

(photos in the public domain)

At Kleber and Associates, we watch the national and housing industry economic newswith a passion and contemplate its possible effects on the homebuilding and remodeling business. Like our clients, we want to know what we can expect in the coming year so that we can make sound business decisions that will lead to profitability.

Sometimes, it’s not easy to separate the journalism hype from the fine print, the greed from the blessings and the statistical extremes from the mean average. We depend on accurate reporting and forecasting to help us project the future and fate of the economy.

When the forecasters took a narrow look at the home buying slow-down, and started declaring that the sky was about to fall, we took a look around and didn’t really think this was going to be the case. Our economy has performed beautifully. So, it was with some aggravation that we read and ignored CNN’s Money.com headlines – “Mortgage Rates Surge; Highest Since October” (Feb 1, 2007). This amounted to a .09 percent change from the previous week and a .11 percent change from LAST YEAR.

This is hardly a “surge”, which implies a dangerous trend. The word “spike” would be more appropriate since the long view of any statistical analysis is where you find accuracy and true trends. It certainly didn’t have any affect on the Fed’s decision to leave the target short-term interest rate unchanged. These are the people with the power.

They indicated that there are tentative signs of stabilization that have appeared in the housing market. Even though 2006 was a year of significant decline in housing activities, it will still be noted that to date, it remains in the top three years for total home sales in the history of America. Our strong 3.5% annualized growth and slowing inflation capped the Fed’s current decision and it’s one that everyone in our industry can applaud.