Worldwide construction of new housing is expected to increase by 3.3% a year to reach some 60.9 million units in 2017, according to research company Freedonia. The company said that an increase in rural-to-urban migration, especially among the developing countries, would spur construction of new housing units in those urban areas. And even though expansion of the world population is projected to decelerate, the number of households in the world is still expected to grow 1.5% annually, adding to the demand for new housing. In 2012, the world housing stock was nearly 2 billion units. According to Freedonia, this stock will grow roughly in line with new household formations, causing the housing stock to increase 1.8% annually to 2.2 billion units in 2017.
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