A Long-Term Outlook for Homeowner Remodeling Activity: Results and Implications

W07-6: In recent years, the home remodeling market in the United States has enjoyed solid growth. Spending on residential improvements and repairs has climbed steadily, setting a new record of $280 billion in expenditures in 2005.1 Building on previous work2 done regarding demographic drivers to the remodeling industry, the Joint Center for Housing Studies developed a ten-year projection of homeowner remodeling activity. The Joint Center maintains a ten-year panel database of the American Housing Survey with extensive remodeling data which is used as the basis for this projection. Using a cohort-component method of projection, we forecast inflation-adjusted remodeling spending for all owner households. With age, race/ethnic, and family composition as the main parameters, the projection produces detail on total home improvement activity, installation type, and project detail from 2005 - 2015…