From Builder Online

Home improvement Big Box stores should get ready. If you think homeowners are sitting idly by this summer trying to beat the heat with their feet up, think again. According to the Zillow Digs Summer Home Improvement Trend and Spending Survey, 60 percent of homeowners plan to make a home improvement or addition this summer.

Some of the most popular summer home improvement projects are outdoor spaces (40 percent) and bathrooms (17 percent).

Instead of infinity pools and sleek modern decks with well-appointed outdoor kitchens, these summer home remodelers prefer camp-like settings that use a lot of stone, particularly stone fireplaces.

FT. MYERS, FLORIDA

Suncoast Furniture has launched its new website. It showcases Suncoast's expansive portfolio of furniture for residential and commercial use. Users can search for furniture by product name or model number.

The website is user friendly for retailers and consumers. The expanded site was designed to aid consumers with their dealer purchase decisions and to aid dealers in closing the Suncoast sale.

The new site supports retailers by establishing the upper price point for all products. Online prices are MSRP less a courtesy discount of 10 percent.  Highly configurable products with padded slings, cord, fringe and contrasting welt will not be offered online and will only be available through authorized dealers.  

Suncoast Furniture president Rajiv Varshney said, "The new website supports our dealers by showing consumers they cannot purchase Suncoast Furniture for a better price by going direct. The pricing on the website is structured to encourage all shoppers to buy from authorized Suncoast dealers."

The website is enhanced with a "dealer locator" clickable map that returns the dealers within the state. Optimized versions of the Suncoast catalog and updated finishes and fabrics with zoom capabilities have also been upgraded.

Suncoast Furniture has manufactured quality furniture for residential and commercial use for over 30 years. Suncoast produces made to order furniture in a variety of styles, finishes and price points.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

By Bloomberg

Housing starts climbed 6.8 percent, less than forecast, to a 914,000 annualized rate after a revised 856,000 pace in April, the Commerce Department reported. The median estimate of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 950,000 rate. Applications to build one-family homes increased 1.3 percent to a 622,000 pace, the fastest since May 2008.

Building permits that exceed the level of starts indicate residential construction will keep rising as improving job opportunities and historically low mortgage rates lure buyers. The recovery in residential real estate that has spurred optimism among builders such as Hovnanian Enterprises shows how record monetary stimulus from Federal Reserve policy makers is bolstering economic growth.

"We'll continue to see starts increase through the remainder of this year and into the next," said Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania, who projected 905,000 starts at an annual rate. "Permits are still slowly heading in the right direction."

Economists' estimates for starts in a Bloomberg survey ranged from an 875,000 pace to a 1.02 million rate after an initially reported 853,000 in April.