South region leads in home sales

With many buyers rushing to take advantage of the federal home-buyer tax credit set to expire in April, sales of newly built single-family homes surged 26.9 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 units, the Commerce Department reported today. Sales increases were posted in all four regions of the country.

Regionally, sales increased a leading 43.5 percent in the South, compared to 35.7 percent in the Northeast, 4.3 percent in the Midwest, and 5.7 percent in the West.

“Undoubtedly, the tax credit is working,” said Bob Jones, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “Builders are seeing a growing optimism among consumers.”

“The near record-breaking 27 percent increase over February was the result of home buyers taking advantage of the tax credit as well as a carryover of demand that was held back by unusually bad weather in February,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

“The increased sales are very welcome news and sales will continue to improve, although we expect them to plateau in late spring and early summer when the credit expires. Following that, the housing momentum will be carried forward by low interest rates, pent up household formations, excellent affordability conditions and a budding employment growth,” Crowe added.

The nationwide inventory of new homes on the market dropped a negligible 0.8 percent in March, to 227,000 units as builders continued to maintain small inventories. With the increased sales pace and low inventory level, the month’s supply of new homes for sale dropped from 8.6 in February to 6.7 in March.

Make plans to attend the 2010 21CBEC

Registration for the Southeast’s premier home building tradeshow, the 21st Century Building Expo & Conference, is officially open. We invite builders, remodelers, subcontractors, realtors and other industry professionals to attend the 21CBEC in Charlotte, N.C. September 15-17.

The 21CBEC is your chance to see a large array of the products and services available from the industry’s leading manufacturers and suppliers. In addition, a three-day educational conference includes a line-up of more than 50 general session seminars, North Carolina Builder Institute courses and NAHB Education classes.

There are three types of registration:

-- Expo floor only—FREE. Simply register before Sept. 14, and you can visit the exhibit hall filled with more than 200 exhibits showcasing products and services. The Expo floor will be open September 16 and 17.

-- Full Delegate—$75. Register as a full delegate and attend an unlimited number of our carefully selected general session seminars. Learn about trends in home building, how to keep your business successful, new marketing techniques, and much more during these insightful seminars taught by nationally-recognized speakers. The $75 fee also includes conference lunches on Thursday and Friday and Expo floor access. Fee increases to $100 after Sept. 14.

--NCBI/NAHB Course—Fee varies depending on course. If you are working on an NAHB or NCBI designation, the 21CBEC offers three days of courses to help get you well on your way. Course fee includes course materials, unlimited general session seminars, conference lunches on Thursday and Friday, and the Expo floor.

Online registration is easy. Go to www.21buildingexpo.com and click on Attendees.

Interested in exhibiting at 21CBEC? Get your product in front of more than 5,000 industry professionals. Contact Tracie Garrett at tgarrett@nchba.org or 800.676.7129 to sign up now!

Become a Fan of the 21CBEC on Facebook.

Get your products in front of builders from the healthiest housing markets in 2010

In a recent article in Builder magazine, Boyce Thompson wrote about the top 20 healthiest housing markets for 2010.

The Carolinas region had a seven of the 20 healthiest markets: #2—Raleigh/Cary, #3—Charlotte, #5—Charleston, #9—Durham/Chapel Hill, #15—Myrtle Beach, #17—Wilmington and #19—Greenville, SC. Many of the major cities along the Mid-Atlantic seaboard continue to benefit from a strong influx of people drawn by a comfortable way of life, affordable housing and growing employment prospects.

With these Southeastern markets on the rebound, the big question for you is how do you reach the builders who are gearing up to start building?

Held in Charlotte, NC, the 21st Century Building Expo & Conference (21CBEC) is the perfect venue to reach builders from not only North Carolina and South Carolina, but also Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia.

The 21CBEC attracts more than 4,500 building professionals from the five-state area for the two-day Expo. A High Production Builder Breakfast for the presidents and CEOs of the top production building companies from the surrounding areas brings decision makers to the Expo floor. Last year over 80 executives were present for the breakfast. They are then led to the Expo floor to see you, the exhibitors.

With the lowest rates for a regional builder trade show, the 21CBEC offers you the most “bang for your bucks.”
• Rates are $18/square foot, with booth size starting at 10x10.
• The Charlotte Convention Center is a right-to-work facility, so if you can carry in your product on a dolly or handcart, you don’t have to use union labor.
• Bring in your own carpet and tables.
• Special “pick” rate for POV’s that bring in their product on a pallet. The first trip from your POV to your booth is $45, and the second through fourth are $22.50 o/w.
• Affordable transportation and lodging options.

Hosted by the North Carolina Home Builders Association, the largest HBA in the country with over 14,000 members, this is the show you should check out. For more information, please visit http://www.21buildingexpo.com or contact Tracie Garrett at 800-662-7129 or tgarrett@nchba.org.

Click here to read more about the Hanley Wood survey and how they chose the healthiest regions.

Reports indicate North Carolina housing market looking better

Good news for North Carolina and the Triangle region in particular. According to a recent News & Observer article, the Raleigh-Cary market was ranked FIRST on the Hanley Wood Market Intelligence list of top 100 U.S. Housing Markets. Durham-Chapel Hill was ranked sixth. The rankings are based on employment conditions, home prices and income growth potential.

In addition, the Huffington Post reports that Charlotte ranks #10 on The Best Performing Housing Markets in the Last Year.

A recent MSN Money article also mentioned the Raleigh, N.C. market as one that looks relatively strong for the coming year.

What are your thoughts? Is your traffic increasing? Is your outlook for Spring better?

Welcome to the 21st Century Building Expo & Conference Blog

Greetings!

Thank you for visiting the 21st Century Building Expo & Conference blog! We are gearing up to start our marketing efforts for our 2010 Expo. This year, we'd like to use more social media and Internet marketing to encourage attendees and exhibitors to join us in Charlotte September 15-17, 2010.

We're launching this blog to create a conversation. As an attendee, what do you hope to get out of the 21CBEC? Past attendees, what is your favorite thing about our Expo? We'd also encourage exhibitors to make posts to this blog. Press releases, special events and anything else you think builders would like to know about are encouraged.

We're just in the planning stages for 2010 now, but we will be posting more information this spring. We plan to announce our education seminars and courses very soon. We launch attendee registration some time in April. And of course, we are actively recruiting new exhibitors, so if you are interested, give us a shout.

This blog will be your one-stop shop for all things 21CBEC. Look forward to talking with you!