Although maintenance is lesser known than other key indicators, like housing authorizations and starts, its movement is highly correlated with risk and reflects shifts in consumer confidence. (Photo: Shutterstock) Although maintenance is lesser known than other key indicators, like housing authorizations and starts, its movement is highly correlated with risk and reflects shifts in consumer confidence. (Photo: Shutterstock)

There's been considerable talk of a potential housing slowdown on the horizon. Housing prices are faltering, homes in popular cities are staying on the market for longer and stock market instability has led to hesitance among homeowners. However, what's also compelling, particularly in the property insurance space, is the decline in maintenance activity on the aging U.S. housing stock.

Since November 2018, maintenance activity, which encompasses work on existing structures, has slowed substantially. In January alone, BuildFax's latest Housing Health Report saw a 6.47% year-over-year decrease in maintenance. This was the third consecutive month of slowing activity.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Personal Lines
Emerging Risk
Loss Control
Public Sector Risk