After a splurge of activity during the months of the Covid 19 lockdown and afterwards, home improvement and repair work is expected to see a decline lasting throughout the rest of this year and into 2025.
In a new report just issued by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University it is noted that overall project work and spending is slated to drop by around 7% by the late summer of this year.
That figure stands in contrast to the unprecedented double-digit gains between 2020 and 2021, culminating in a historic increase of 17.3% in the third quarter of 2022.
In a statement, Abbe Will, associate project director of the Remodeling Futures Program, which is a part of the Harvard Center, remarked: “At $451 billion, spending on homeowner improvements and repairs over the coming year is anticipated to be slightly lower than the $463 billion over the last year.”
In fact, the dollar high for the remodeling industry was reached early in 2023 when the figure stood at $490 billion.
The Harvard Center uses a model called the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity which is designed to provide a short term outlook on repair spending and home improvement projects nationally. The model looks at home repair and improvement expenditures over a span of four quarters.
Using that model illustrates the dramatic increase in home improvement spending over time, from around $123 million in early 2004 to $148 million a decade later. The model also shows the devastating impact the Great Recession had on spending that had precipitately dropped to $108 million by early 2012.
Although this year’s numbers are down, ongoing opportunities for remodeling and updating projects continue to exist in different pockets of the country. In a press release issued from the Harvard Center, Carlos Martin, project director with the Remodeling Futures Program, observed: “The nation’s aging homes continue to need investment in critical replacements, home performance deficiencies, as well as modernization.”
By Garry Boulard
