Dive Brief:
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Although forecasters predict the world’s population in on pace to begin a slow decline over the next few years, the demand for housing across the globe will rise by 3.2% by 2018, according to a world housing market outlook by research firm Reportlinker.
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The spike will be fueled, in part, by more demand for larger homes, the report said, although the authors note that the size of families will continue to diminish. That’s a reversal of a trend toward shrinking square footage that held fast from 2008 to 2013, the study, which looked at 22 major countries, said.
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As is the case in the U.S., that demand will be more for multifamily housing than single-family homes, the researchers predicted. And more people will gravitate out of rural areas and suburbs so they can live in cities.
Dive Insight:
The global forecast largely mirrors predictions by U.S. economists that the housing market here will pick up steam within the next year and continue to strengthen, at least through 2016. This report forecasts annual growth in residential housing of 7.9% in North America.
“Developed countries that suffered dramatic declines in residential construction around the time of the 2009 global economic recession are forecast to exhibit the fastest gains in construction of new housing units through 2018,” the authors wrote.