Metrostudy
Source: www.poolspanews.com, June 2020
With slight decreases expected this year, market intelligence firm Metrostudy expects increases to rebound in 2021.
The first quarter of 2020 showed continued growth, according to the New Pool Index calculated by market intelligence firm Metrostudy. But COVID-19 has caused projections for this year to decrease.
Q1 of 2020 saw an NPI of 53.7, representing a 4.3% increase year over year, and a 0.9% gain from the previous quarter. This marks the 39th consecutive quarter of growth since the depths of the Great Recession; however, the pandemic is expected to break this streak. Metrostudy, a sister company of PSN publisher Hanley Wood, lowered its projections for the near term. Previously, the firm expected growth to slow. Now, declines are anticipated to begin in second quarter 2020, with year-over-year decreases reflected from Q3 2020 through Q1 2021. For the year 2020, the NPI is projected to decrease by 0.3 percent. Then 2021 is expected to rebound to an average of 5.4 percent. These projections are based primarily on Metrostudy’s latest forecast for single-family housing starts.
NPI measures inground residential swimming pool construction against 2005, considered the peak of pool-industry activity. It works similar to a percentage, with 2005 activity represented by 100. An index of 120 would indicate activity that was 20% higher than in 2005; an 80 would mean it was 20% lower.
