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New Home Sales Activity Shows Solid Gain CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
From Well Fargo Economic Group
New home sales rose more than expected in November to a
377,000-unit pace, from a downwardly revised 361,000-unit
pace in October. Sales activity rose in the Northeast and South,
but tumbled in the Midwest and West.
The South, which accounts for just over half the nation's new home sales, posted a 21.1 percent gain in November. Regarding the Northeast, the impact of Hurricane Sandy is still difficult to measure.
Lean Inventories and Rising Prices Give Hope
Sales activity for new home purchases through November 2012
are running 19.4 percent ahead of their year-ago pace. The
continued upward trend in new home sales is being boosted by
lean inventories and rising home prices, which continue to drive
improving builder sentiment.
The months' supply fell in November to 4.7 months, from a
revised 4.9 months in October.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce and Wells Fargo Securities.
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Bulb.
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EcoSmart Fire Sets
in The New American Home
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Fourteen EcoSmart Fire models are featured in the 2013 New American Home, presented by the National Association of Home Builders and Builder magazine; it is a stunning show home built each year to coincide with the International Builders Show taking place Jan. 22-24, 2013 in Las Vegas.
The New American Home has been dubbed a "real-world" laboratory that demonstrates innovative concepts, builders' best practices and energy efficiency in home design.
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Stix.
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When this year's lead interior designer from Blue Heron Design Build sought warmth without compromising their sustainable initiatives, EcoSmart Fire was the choice. Its clean-burning bioethanol fuel results in a carbon neutral fire, which means all the warmth without the soot, smoke or ash.
EcoSmart Fire models showcased in the home include the Bulb, Stix, Lantern, Mix and Lighthouse Series from the Outdoor Fireplace Range as well as the Ghost from the Designer Fireplace Range.
Contact Kim Rodgers, Marketing coordinator, at email. |
The Stay-at-Home Millennial Generation
Is Moving Out
By Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais
Morley Winograd (left) and Michael D. Hais
In an effort to help the Republican ticket cut into President Obama's massive advantage with millennial-generation voters, Paul Ryan delivered what may have been his best line of the 2012 campaign in his speech accepting the GOP vice presidential nomination: "College grads shouldn't have to live out their 20s in childhood bedrooms staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life."
One reason why Ryan's appeal to Millennials ultimately failed to have as much impact with them as he anticipated is that it painted an increasingly out-of-date and inaccurate picture of the current status of many Millennials who, in growing numbers, are finding work and leaving their parental homes.
This may be the first sign that a generation described or even accused of "failing to launch" is now on its way to shaping its own distinctive destiny and that of America in areas such as marriage, family formation and child-rearing.
On Election Day, Millennials - those born between 1982 and 2003 -comprised a greater proportion of the electorate than they did in the Obama-mania election of 2008. Those members of the generation old enough to vote gave Obama a 60 percent to 37 percent margin over Mitt Romney, and allowed the president to capture the key battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and thereby win reelection.
Still, there is a reason Paul Ryan's comment may have struck home to at least some who listened to his speech. Millennials, to date, have been less likely to strike out on their own than the generations that immediately preceded them. A December 2011 Pew survey showed that, partially prompted by the impact of the Great Recession, nearly one in three young adults 25-34 still lived with their parents, three times the percentage of those that age who did so in 1980.
For a generation with close and mutually supportive relationships with its parents that Millennials enjoy, this arrangement was not quite the disaster that pundits and politicians said it was, and it now seems to be coming to an end.
This year, the jobless rate of those between 25 and 34 has dropped a little more sharply than it has for the overall population. It fell to 7.9 percent in November from nine percent in January, compared with a decline to 7.7 percent from 8.3 percent for all workers. As a result of the improved employment picture and continued low home-mortgage rates, twentysomethings and those in their early 30s are moving into their own apartments and buying homes in increasingly greater numbers.
Interstate migration of young people is occurring at the highest rate in more than a decade as well. According to the Census Bureau, the nation has added more than two million households in the past year, many of them comprised of young adults. This was triple the annual average for the previous four years.
Now that more Millennials are leaving their parents' home and establishing their own households, one might anticipate that more of them will marry. So far, however, this hasn't happened. If anything, American marriage rates are continuing to decline.
According to a Pew analysis of census data, in 2010 barely half - 51 percent - of Americans 18 and older were married in comparison with 72 percent in 1960. Over the same span, the median age for a first marriage had risen from 22.8 to 28.7 for men and from 20.3 to 26.5 for women. As a result, the share of 18- to 24-year-olds currently married dropped from 45 percent in 1960 to only nine percent 50 years later.
Among 25- to 34-year-olds, the corresponding decline was from 82 percent to 44 percent. Perhaps most disconcerting, 39 percent of all American adults and 44 percent of Millennials agree that "marriage is becoming obsolete."
Not surprisingly, given the decline in marriage rates, birth rates have also declined and the average age of first-time parents has risen during the past several decades. From a peak of about 4.3 million before the Great Recession, annual births fell to 3.9 million in 2011. Between 1970 and 2010, the average age of first-time mothers rose by nearly four years (from 21.5 to 25.4). The average is closer to 30 on both coasts and among college graduates.
Still, these initial trends may not end up being the final words on the subject. Generational theorists indicate that the millennial generation is a "civic" generation. The last previous American civic generation was the G.I. or "greatest generation." Like today's Millennials, that generation was forced by events - the Great Depression and World War II - to live with their parents and postpone marriage and family formation for a decade or more before eventually marrying in large numbers and parenting the Baby Boom generation, the largest cohort prior to the Millennials.
Nowhere were the hopes of this generation better stated than in the words of a demobilized G.I. in the 1947 Academy Award-winning film, "The Best Years of Our Lives": "a good job, a mild future and a little house big enough for me and my wife." In this, as in other aspects of life, Millennials may turn out to be a lot like their G.I. generation great-grandparents.
The Pew survey indicating that many Millennials perceive marriage to be an institution of the past also found that 61 percent of all unmarried adults and nearly half of those believing marriage to be obsolete said they would like to wed.
Another Pew survey found that the three most important life priorities for Millennials were being a good parent (52 percent), owning their own home (30 percent) and having a successful marriage (20 percent) - numbers almost identical to those of older generations.
This is not to say that, once they are formed, millennial families will be exactly like those of earlier generations. Millennials have the most gender-neutral attitudes of any generation. They are, perhaps, even the first female-driven cohort in U.S. history. Within millennial households, sex roles, financial contributions and responsibility for household chores are likely to be more blurred than ever before.
But, as Paul Ryan should have learned, it is far too early to give up on the millennial generation and its chances of living the American Dream. History and the optimistic beliefs of Millennials themselves tell a different story.
Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais are coauthors of the newly published "Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation is Remaking America" and "Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics." |
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Viking Range Corp.
Acquired by Middleby Corp.
GREENWOOD, MISSISSIPPI
Fred Carl, Jr., founder, president and CEO of Viking Range Corporation, has announced that Viking has been acquired by Middleby Corporation of Elgin, Illinois.
Viking, based in Greenwood, Mississippi, is a leader of the industry's professional category of appliances, a segment of the residential major appliance industry it created in 1987 when it introduced the first Viking range.
Middleby is a leading producer of commercial cooking and food processing and packaging equipment for the foodservice industry. With more than 30 brands, Middleby manufactures, sells, distributes and services its products worldwide. It is a publicly-traded company (NASDAQ: MIDD) with a strong track record of acquiring and growing companies.
"I am excited about the future of Viking as it becomes a part of the Middleby Corporation," said Carl. "I have always had a great deal of respect for Middleby, a company I've known well over the years, and very much look forward to becoming affiliated with an organization that has such a strong and impressive track record.
"We are looking forward to launching a new product line in 2013 and excited about the great R&D and innovation Middleby brings to the Viking brand, including their truvection, induction and speed cooking technologies."
"We are delighted to add Viking Range Corporation to our portfolio of highly respected companies," said Selim A. Bassoul, chairman and CEO of The Middleby Corporation. "As our entry into the residential appliance industry, we see many synergies and growth opportunities between Viking and our existing business units. We hope to aggressively grow and expand the Viking brand and add to their product offerings for the residential market."
Bassoul emphasized that Viking will remain headquartered in Greenwood and will maintain its current operations there. "It is our intent to help Fred and his team continue to grow Viking right there in Mississippi where it has been since he started the company," he added.
Visit the Middleby Corp. website.
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