Inventory may be low, but housing isn’t the only thing in short supply. Once work from home became more popular, homeowners started looking to upgrade their homes since they would be spending more time there. Part of that was updating their appliances and buying new furniture, particularly stoves and grills because homeowners would be cooking at home more often. Combined with a decrease in manufacturing productivity due to labor shortages, appliances and furniture are selling out quickly.
While increased new construction is a potential solution to low housing inventory, it’s definitely not going to help the appliance shortage. Even with construction being low, the increased demand for already existing homes is stretching the appliance supply thin — and new constructions would require all new appliances. It’s even affecting the timing of real estate transactions. Closing time is being delayed because the new owners want the place to be move-in ready when it closes, and they aren’t able to get their hands on appliances and furniture.
Photo by Serge van Neck on Unsplash
More: https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/pandemic-appliance-shortage/