After a record-shattering year in 2021, the housing market is at an inflection point. Higher interest rates have taken some heat out of the homebuying market, and the large number of apartments under construction should bring some relief on the rental side.
With support from our Center, 28 graduate students from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), and one undergraduate from Harvard College, will spend the summer researching and working on a host of issues related to housing and community development.
Expenditures for improvements and repairs to the owner-occupied housing stock are expected to grow throughout 2022 and into early next year, but at a decelerating pace.
Projections for 2022 show a robust average annual growth in home improvement spending of 13.8 percent across all 48 major metropolitan areas tracked, with owner expenditures expected to grow between 7.6 percent and 23.0 percent.
Rental housing demand came roaring back in the second year of the pandemic, reducing vacancy rates and driving up rents, according to America’s Rental Housing 2022.
Annual gains in homeowner improvement and maintenance spending are set to accelerate in the second half of the year and remain elevated through mid-year 2022, according to our latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA).
