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Sales of New and Existing Homes Drop in February

March 25, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

New home sales are down - photo of a new home

Is Housing a Bubble About to Burst?

After a spectacular run in 2020, it looks as though housing may be taking a pause to regroup. Strata-gee reported last week that residential construction starts had dropped by 10.3% in February. Now we learn that sales of newly built single-family homes have also dropped in February, this time by a scary 18.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 775,000 units. On top of that, existing home sales also dropped in February, coming in at 6.22 million units or 6.6% off of January’s rate.

What’s going on in housing?…

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Former Nike Exec to Take a Run at Denon

March 18, 2021 by Ted 3 Comments

Sound United, parent company to a wide range of audio lines, announced this week that it has hired Trip Randall, a former executive with sneaker & sports gear maker Nike, to be the new President of Denon. The company says this move is part of their plan to “revitalize marketing” at Denon. They also say they are looking to “boost direct-to-consumer sales” as well as several other initiatives.

See more on the new Denon president…

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LG Prevails in First of Three Patent Lawsuits Against TCL

March 17, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

LG Electronics (LG) announced last week that they had prevailed in a patent infringement lawsuit they had filed against Chinese powerhouse TCL Communication Technology Limited and two other affiliated European entities in Germany. While this is just one of three suits brought by LG, it’s the first argued, resulting in a winning decision.

See more on the lawsuits between these two giants…

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February Housing Starts in Double-Digit Drop

March 17, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

new home under construction, a housing start

The 2nd Month of Decline; Is Housing Turning?

In the latest government data on new residential construction, housing starts dropped in February by 10.3%. This is the second month-in-a-row that starts dropped, after falling 6% overall in January.

So what do analysts think this downward cycle means? Is the housing construction segment beginning a period of contraction?

See what is happening in housing starts…

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Melrose Makes It Official: Nortek is For Sale…Again

March 9, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

Melrose Industries Plc has announced that their financial results for fiscal 2020 and it wasn’t pretty. The company swung to a net loss on lower revenues. They said this was mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic’s massive impact on its GKN Aerospace division. To streamline operations and raise cash, Melrose told the press that it has again put Nortek up for sale.

See more on Melrose putting Nortek up for sale…

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Crestron Partners with Origin on New Audio Line

March 8, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

When two power players decide to create something new together, the result could potentially shake the earth and be felt by all in the industry – especially by their competitors. Such was the first thought that came to mind when I learned that Crestron Electronics and Origin Acoustics – one, a home automation and integrated systems Jedi Master…and the other, a leading brand in premium architectural audio solutions – came together to create a new line of residential audio products under the Crestron brand.

Learn more about this Crestron/Origin partnership…

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NuTech Group Appointed as Mid-Atlantic Rep for Legrand AV

March 4, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

Legrand AV announced today that it has selected NuTech Group as its new manufacturers sales representative for the Mid-Atlantic region. NuTech will provide sales and technical support for the wide roster of Legrand’s residential custom integration lineup.

See more on NuTech’s appointment by Legrand AV…

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Consumer Optimism: Americans See a Light at the End of the COVID Tunnel

March 4, 2021 by Ted Leave a Comment

A new Axios-Ipsos poll has shown a marked turn towards more consumer optimism in American’s attitude about the condition of their lives under COVID. They are becoming dramatically more hopeful as the administration takes actions to step-up the availability of vaccines.

See the latest poll data on consumer COVID sentiment…

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Pres. Biden Orders Supply Chain Review; This Might Not End Well for Tech

March 2, 2021 by Ted 3 Comments

all-electric Cadillac design at CES 2021

Auto Makers Now in the Driver’s Seat

Late last week, multiple news services reported that US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order directing a “broad review” of the supply chains for critical materials – critical materials that include, by the way, semiconductors. The fact is, this might not end well for Tech…

See why supply chain concerns are heightening…

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Yamaha Executive Jason Baumann Dies Unexpectedly

February 26, 2021 by Ted 5 Comments

Jason Baumann Yamaha executive — Jason Baumann

A guest post by Paul Tamberelli

Long time industry executive Jason Baumann, most recently Regional Sales Manager for Yamaha, passed away unexpectedly on February 21, 2021 at his home in Frisco, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). Jason was just 59 at the time of his passing.

See more on Jason Baumann…

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News

Sales of New and Existing Homes Drop in February