Over the past two years, the pandemic has been no match for the U.S. fenestration industry and the broader residential construction/renovation market as a whole. 2022 is shaping out in similar fashion.

New Construction

New single family construction starts, a key indicator of door and window demand in new construction, recorded a second-straight year of double-digit-percentage increases in 2021 and are expected to increase again in 2022. Each U.S. region has experienced year-over-year increases in new single family construction starts in most years over the past decade.

New multifamily housing unit starts flattened in recent years after a major post-recession surge in the early 2010s, but this segment came back in a big way in 2021 and will carry that momentum through the year ahead.

Remodeling and Renovation

Remodeling activity, a key indicator of door and window replacement demand, has increased in most quarters since the end of 2017 and is currently in the middle of a major expansion.

The average expenditure of door and window replacement projects has increased substantially over the past two decades, and the value of construction activity specific to residential fenestration continues to trend upward year-over-year.

Door and Window Industry Perspective

Dealers and manufacturers enter 2022 with a mostly positive outlook despite concerns with the supply chain, labor and inflation. They have collectively enjoyed year-over-year sales increases over the past four years and expect that to continue in 2022.

KMR’s Fenestration Materials Price Index shows prices in the industry have surged over the past year after a relatively stable 2020. As expected, an overwhelming majority of manufacturers in the industry have raised their prices as a result of an increase in material costs.

Manufacturers continue to increase the utilization of their full production capacities. All three company size categories (small, medium and large) have remained in a comfortable level of capacity utilization—with the exception of small-sized companies in 2021—since KMR began tracking this four years ago.

This article is an excerpt from the 2022 Door and Window Industry Outlook. For more information on the extensive report, click here. Use the promo code DWM for 20% off.

Nick St. Denis is the director of research for Key Media & Research, parent company of [DWM] Magazine and the [DWM] e-newsletter.