Changes ahead for housing

By l(eith Lanning Exccutive Vice President & Ceneral Manager California Redwood Association

E OR the next I year, as ln recent years, housing will be a major influence on redwood industry business. We all know that there is an enormous pent-up demand for housing and that the keys to this waiting market are interest rates and affordability.

For the coming year, the best estimates seem to be that mortgage rates will fluctuate around a l39o level with housing starts between 1.6 and 1.7 million.

And while the sleeping giant of affordable housing waits, the character of housing continues to change, creating new challenges and opportunities for the producers that will supply the market in 1985 and beyond.

The biggest single positive influence on future housing sales will probably be the emergence of the two-income family as a dominant pattern. This trend, particularly noticeable among the young married professionals, creates higher income per household, an encouraging counterweight to high interest rates in the struggle for affordability.

For many of these new families, townhouses, low-rise condos, or planned unit developments offer the first step in home ownership. While these types of housing present a smaller square footage of redwood siding

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