The National Kitchen & Bath Association and John Burns Real Estate Consulting recently released their Kitchen & Bath Market Index (KBMI) for Q1 2020, drawn from a quarterly survey of kitchen and bath building, manufacturing, and design professionals on industry conditions.
It is the first KBMI released to take the domestic effects of COVID-19 into account. Respondents say that the pandemic has had an impact of 8.08 on their businesses on a scale from 1 (no impact) to 10 (significant impact). Retail sales (8.3) and building/construction (8.29) have been the most affected, followed by design (7.96) and manufacturing (7.84).
At the time the survey was taken, while 69 percent of kitchen and bath projects have been impacted by the crisis, a majority – 48 percent – were postponements rather than cancellations. One in four retail companies say closing their showroom has had the biggest impact on their business, while 52 percent of design firms report they have temporarily closed their physical locations. However, some retailers have benefited from remote sales, and some designers predict shelter-in-place orders may contribute to a rise in home renovations.
On average, respondents reported a 2.8 percent decline in sales for Q1, likely owing to a strong January and February. Cancellation rates fell from a high of 14 percent in early April to 11.9 percent as of May 1. The majority of respondents – 68 percent – expect a return to normalcy for their practice by September, while 25 percent are unsure of improvement until at least 2021.
