Majority of new housing to be in developing regions
A new report on global housing confirms what many of us already knew, Asia is hot, Africa is hot and in fact most of the world is hot. Construction seems to be back in vogue.
Through 2017, more than 80 percent of new housing construction is projected to take place in the Asia/Pacific and Africa/ Mideast regions. Developing economies in both regions and above-average population growth in the Africa/Mideast region will spur demand for new units.
While the Asia/Pacific region will spur the most new housing units, the pace of housing construction is expected to decelerate from that of the 2007-2012 period because of weaker growth in China. Nevertheless, China will still have the world’s largest housing stock and is forecast to remain the world’s largest market for new housing units through 2017.
While developing regions will be the largest markets for new housing construction through 2017, North America and Western Europe are expected to have the fastest growth in construction of new units. Many countries in these regions, including the US, Spain, and Italy, are forecast to post double-digit annual increases in new housing construction from depressed 2012 levels. Despite the rapid gains, new housing construction in 2017 in both North America and Western Europe will remain below 2007 levels.
World housing stock to reach 2.2 billion units by 2017
The global housing stock was nearly two billion units in 2012 and is projected to grow to 2.2 billion units in 2017. The Africa/Mideast region will experience the fastest overall rate of growth in its regional housing stock, spurred by the region’s population growth. Nevertheless, the Asia/Pacific region is expected to continue to account for over one-half of the global housing stock through 2017.
Construction of multifamily units to grow fastest
In the Asia/Pacific region, construction of multifamily units is expected to rise over one and one-half times the growth rate in single-family home construction through 2017. Nevertheless, in both that region and the world overall, new single-family housing units will continue to account for the majority of new housing units.
Because of sharp declines in housing construction in North America and Western Europe, where units tend to be larger, the global average size of a new housing unit declined from 2007 to 2012.
By 2017, the average size of new housing units is projected to increase nearly one percent per annum to 92 square meters. This exceeds the average new unit size in the dwelling stock, which will be only 84 square meters in 2017. New units are generally larger than those in the existing stock, reflecting rising global per capita incomes and standards of living.