03/09/2026
Economic forecasts, do builders need them?
Economic forecasts are becoming very popular in real estate. Project Marketing Brokerages produce outlook reports. And there's no question that these reports contain valuable data.
But after spending the last three years teaching classes to home builders, I’ve noticed something interesting. Builders are usually asking a very different set of questions.
They want to know:
-whether labour costs are rising
-how long permits are taking in a particular municipality
-whether zoning changes are coming
-what it will actually cost them to build on a specific piece of land.
In other words, they are less focused on macro forecasts and more focused on operational intelligence.
One builder shared a story with me that stuck. He had scheduled a meeting with an agent to talk about his business. The entire conversation ended up revolving around sales. But sales were not the issue he wanted to discuss. For builders, sales often happen at the very end of a long process. Before a home ever reaches the market, the average builder has already spent years navigating land acquisition, zoning, construction costs, and approvals.
The job is often less about flashy marketing and more about understanding the practical realities builders deal with every day. Sometimes it’s less about forecasts and more about walking the soil in a pair of dirty boots.
I wrote a blog about the evolving role of builder representatives and the kind of intelligence my students ask for:
Economic Forecasts vs. Dirt-Under-Your-Boots Intelligence by [email protected] | Mar 8, 2026 | Brokerage Leadership, Development & Land Use, Market Analysis, Uncategorized | 0 comments Economic Forecasts: Do the Builders Really Care? Recently, I have been noticing a growing trend among real estate....
