Demand for windows and doors in the US is expected to reach $22 billion in 2003 on advances of...

Demand for windows and doors in the US is expected to reach $22 billion in 2003 on advances of one percent per year including price increases. That pace represents a significant deceleration from the 1993-1998 period. Outright declines in housing starts and weakening in most nonresidential construction

markets will inhibit growth, as will the continuing trend of vinyl and other plastic windows and doors supplanting higher-priced wood and metal products. With new construction markets lagging, better opportunities will exist in repair and improvement demand for windows and doors. These and other trends are presented in Windows & Doors, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm.

Vinyl and other plastic window and door demand is forecast to advance seven percent per annum through 2003 to $4.8 billion, the fastest growth rate for any material. Among residential window products, vinyl and other plastics, already the leading materials in the replacement segment in terms of units sold, are expected to surpass wood windows in the new construction segment by 2003. Vinyl windows have increased their market share thanks to low maintenance requirements and lower prices. The development of composite materials using wood fibers and plastic resins will provide competition with wood Windows in higher-end residential applications. For residential doors, wood will remain predominant in interior passage doors, while steel will continue to account for the majority of exterior entry door sales.

In nonresidential window and door markets, metal products will retain a share in excess of 60 percent, but vinyl and other plastic materials will enjoy the fastest growth as they increase their niche in the market. Aggregate growth in nonresidential markets will decelerate from the 1993-1998 period, advancing 1.4 percent per year to $6.4 billion in 2003. Window and door demand will advance fastest in industrial applications, benefitting from an improving construction outlook for manufacturing facilities as maintenance and upgrade activity increases.

Window and door demand is expected to rise slightly faster in the South than in other US regions through 2003, but the rate of increase will not be greatly different from the national average. Demand in the South will profit from a smaller decline in housing starts than in other regions as well as better population growth and nonresidential construction.

Windows & Doors (published 6/99, 241 pages) is available for $3500 from The Freedonia Group, Inc., 767 Beta Drive, Cleveland, OH 44143-2326. For further details, please contact Corinne Gangloff by phone 440.684.9600, fax 440.646.0484 or e-mail pr@freedoniagroup.com. Full text is also available online through commercial database companies and the www.freedoniagroup.com Web site.

Please attribute information from this news release to The Freedonia Group (Cleveland, OH) and include, if possible, the price of the report. We would also appreciate a copy of the article or publication in which we appear.