Global demand for new housing to reach 53 million units in 2014

After a sharp drop in new housing construction in North America, Western Europe and Japan, those countries are expected to enjoy the fastest growth in construction through 2014, according to a study, World Housing, from The Freedonia Group. But despite that new housing activity in the U.S. is forecast to increase 24 percent annually, the level of activity in 2014 will generally remain below what was achieved a decade earlier.
Worldwide, demand for new housing through 2014 is projected to advance three percent per year, generating the construction of 53 million new housing units. Among the developing regions, the most rapid growth in new housing units will be in the Africa/Middle East region, where growth in population and household formation will support 3.9 percent annual advances in new housing construction through 2014 to 11 million units.
The largest number of new housing units will be generated in the Asia/Pacific region, where an expected rise in new housing construction of two percent per year will result in 31.7 million new units; a deceleration from 2004-2009.
The world housing stock was 1.9 billion units in 2009, roughly two percent larger than the number of households. The Asia/Pacific region had the largest housing stock, with its nearly one billion units accounting for 52 percent of the world total; China alone represented 23 percent of the world total. The Africa/Middle East region had the second largest housing stock in 2009, with 292 million units, or 15 percent of the world total. Western Europe and North America, together, accounted for just under 20 percent of the housing stock.