Many benefit from U.S. housing boom

WASHINGTON -- Aaron J. Manes doesn't build houses, but he was downright exuberant when home-construction figures reached record levels in April.

"New homeowners mean customers now and repeat customers later," the owner of a Florida-based window treatment company explained. "The people right now moving into their homes and wanting us to cover their bedroom windows will later put an addition on the back of their house."

The housing boom also means more sofas are sold, more real estate commissions are earned and more jobs are created. Thanks to low mortgage rates and even lower unemployment figures, new home sales jumped 5.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 888,000 in April. The figure beat the previous sales record of 881,000 reached just two months earlier, according to the Commerce Department. Sharon Burnett, 30, has just bought her second new home. She and her husband bought their first one, a townhouse, three years ago. At the time, because they didn't own much beyond a couch and love seat, both of which "had seen their day," they went shopping. "It was mandatory for me. I'm just that type of person -- I had a new house and I wanted to furnish it with new furniture," said Mrs. Burnett, who bought a new living room set, a family room suit, tables for the dining room and kitchen and lots of throw rugs. In all, she spent about $10,000 in furnishings. "I pretty much started from scratch and in the last three years have accumulated what I feel is enough to furnish our new home," she said, referring to her just-completed $253,000 four-bedroom home in Ashburn, Va. Employment figures are reflecting the demand for furniture. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing jobs in furniture and fixtures in January 1997 totaled 507,000; a year later there were 517,000. Preliminary figures for May show a jump to 527,000. The growth of new homes also has increased activity in the appliance industry. About 25 percent of all appliance sales are generated from new home sales, said Marion Stamos, a spokeswoman for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. The sales come from both individual buyers and home builders who increasingly are throwing in more appliances into their finished products. Even the stagnant carpet industry is getting a boost from the housing boom, increasing 2.4 percent in the first four months of this year over the same period in 1997, said Ron Van Gelderen, president of Carpet and Rug Institute. The healthy economy is making it easier to convince new home owners to invest more in their buy, said Joel Albizo of the American Nursery & Landscape Association. "We're seeing many multiple-income families with lots of discretionary income these days," said Albizo, whose industry is getting more work from both new homeowners and land developers wanting to add some flair to their otherwise identical tract-home projects. More than 22 million households spent $14.6 billion on professional landscape services last year, up 1 million households and $600 million over the previous year. Architecture is another profession feeling the impact of rising housing starts. Architectural and engineering services accounted for 915,000 jobs in the nation's labor force in May, according to preliminary labor statistics for the month. In January, there were 897,000, compared with 848,000 in January 1997. John Torti, president of CHK Architects and Planners in Silver Springs, Md., said the increase in his company's residential projects has led him to double his staff over five years. It also has led him to work with developers throughout the country. "We used to do a lot more marketing effort than what we do now," said Sami Kirdil, director of CHK's residential studio."Basically the phones are ringing all the time."

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