The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released the most recent quarterly results for the Home Design Trends Survey on Monday.
The industry overall is growing. Billings for the second quarter were 66 and inquires for new projects were 68 (anything over 50 indicates growth).
Residential architects report in the survey that outdoor living spaces dominate as the most popular "special function" room in the second quarter of 2013, topping home offices, which were the most popular during the same time last year. Mud rooms tied for second with home offices.
The survey tracks year-over-year changes in popularity by calculating the difference between the percent of residential architects reporting the trend as "increasing" minus those that report it as "decreasing."
Extra insulation in the attic still tops the list of most popular special features for homes, although it was also the only feature to decrease in popularity over last year.
For systems and technology, wireless systems steamed ahead in popularity, up from a tie with energy management last year. Long-range controls saw the biggest year-over-year increase in reported popularity.
Among home products, only one dropped in popularity: tankless water heaters.
Across construction segments, only the vacation home sector had more respondents say that it was decreasing in popularity than those that said it was increasing.
For complete results, see the full report here.
All charts from the survey.
