Tim Costello | Source | Founder and CEO at Builders Digital Experience (BDX)

Home buyers want new homes—67% say they’re considering new construction—but they’re frustrated with real estate sites and services that don’t make it easy to find them, says Tim Costello, CEO of Builders Digital Experience (BDX).

In a recent survey of home shoppers and recent home buyers in 43 top markets for new-home sales, BDX found that 48% of shoppers who start their search preferring new construction end up buying an existing home when they run into friction. In response, enter HomLuv.com, a recommendation engine that leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to help home shoppers discover their needs and design style by liking images of kitchens, great rooms, exteriors, and other spaces from new homes in their area and price range. The site, of which BDX is the parent company, then recommends homes based on those likes. Article from BUILDER Magazine and BuilderOnline.com citing Tim and other industry experts. https://www.builderonline.com/design/technology/the-rise-of-proptech-and-its-impact-on-home-buying-and-selling_o

To succeed in today’s rapidly cooling real estate market, builders must make data-driven decisions – based on real-time homebuyer behavior and focus on forward-looking indicators of demand, not what happened in the past," Costello says. "The key data are available. It’s time for data science, enabling smart builders to turn information into actionable insights and competitive advantage – even in a slowing market. From an article from TheBuildersDaily.com extensively quoting Tim and citing our firm's data and analysis of the new home market. https://www.thebuildersdaily.com/as-many-as-32-million-new-home-buyers-priced-out-in-36-months/

“I don’t think you will see any perceptible change in construction soon. However, on the design side, you may see builders add or highlight new design features. In particular, you may see changes that further differentiate a newly built home vs. a used home. Options that could be deployed faster than changes to architecture [include] UV air treatment, indoor air quality monitoring, viral-resistant surfaces and health monitoring systems for homeowners. Changes like these that greatly benefit homeowners – and that respond to learnings from COVID-19 – could make their way into product offerings very quickly.” From an article by Jamie Gold for Forbes citing Tim Costello and seven other industry experts on how the impact of the coronavirus will affect new home design.