Residential Water Feature Sales Spiked in 2020 Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cleveland OH, October 7, 2021 – A new Freedonia Group analysis finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred significant investment in improving home outdoor living spaces, including water feature installations:

• Social distancing and outdoor socializing drove homeowners to add water features (e.g., fountains, ponds, waterfalls) to make these areas more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.
• Consumers also devoted more time to DIY projects, promoting sales of fountains, pond kits, and waterfall kits, which are easier to install than more elaborate projects.
• Kits do not require the professional expertise that such large installations as ponds and waterfalls often need, which was a benefit amid labor shortages and uncertainty surrounding hiring contractors.

As a result of trends in the residential market, demand for water features spiked in 2020 despite stagnancy in the commercial and recreation segments. While the high number of units sold in the residential market in 2020 will lead to a slow rate of expansion through 2025, rebounding commercial construction activity will aid gains, especially in the office, lodging, retail, and foodservice segments, where water features will be installed as part of larger improvement efforts to entice customers to return.

US Demand for Landscaping Water Features to Reach $1.0 Billion in 2025

While demand growth for landscaping water features will be slow through 2025 as a result of the elevated demand levels of 2020, advances will be supported by:

• strong interest in creating aesthetically appealing outdoor living spaces, which the pandemic intensified
• the popularity of water features for their aural and atmospheric qualities (e.g., soothing sound, attract wildlife) in addition to their aesthetics
• development of value-added units – such as water features integrated with lighting or fire elements or with smart controls to increase convenience and coordinate units with other outdoor electronics
• increasing availability of smaller options, including such products as ponds and fountains

However, the high cost and sizable outdoor space requirements of most water features – especially larger, more complex units, which can entail significant installation costs – will continue to limit the potential consumer base. Additionally, water conservation efforts and ongoing competition from site-built installations – excluded from this study – will restrain growth.

Want to Learn More?

Water Features in Landscaping is now available from the Freedonia Group. This study covers the United States market for landscape water features, which are defined as fountains, ponds, and waterfalls used in landscaping activities (excluding water features made from scratch using materials not specifically marketed as for use in water feature installations).

Historical data for 2010, 2015, and 2020 and forecasts to 2025 and 2030 are provided for demand in current dollars (which are not adjusted to account for inflation) by product, market, and US region.

Products:

• fountains
• ponds
• waterfalls

Markets:

• residential
• commercial
• recreation and infrastructure (e.g., parks, golf courses, playgrounds)

Regions:

• Northeast
• Midwest
• South
• West