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Housing Perspectives

Research, trends, and perspective from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

Residential Remodeling in Top Metros to Accelerate in 2022

Expenditures for improvements to the owner-occupied housing stock are expected to increase at a faster pace in most of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas this year. 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. Of these metros, 20 are expected to see above average growth of 14 percent or greater with six metros surpassing the projection for national remodeling spending of 17 percent growth this year. All but one of the metros tracked show higher growth projected for 2022 compared with 2021 estimates.

Record-breaking home price appreciation, solid home sales, and high incomes are all contributing to stronger remodeling activity in our nation’s major metros, especially in the South and West. The largest gains in home improvement spending this year are projected to occur in Tucson (23.0 percent), Riverside (21.9 percent), Phoenix (20.3 percent), Austin (19.2 percent), San Antonio (19.1 percent), and Las Vegas (17.5 percent).

Although home remodeling is expected to accelerate broadly across top metros, ongoing shortages and rising costs of labor and building materials may dampen activity in the coming year. There will be shifts in local supply chains and the remodeling workforce as regional economies pull out of the pandemic, and as homeowner needs and activities change.

Note: Due to data discontinuation, the 2022 metro projections substituted total existing home sales for existing single-family home sales as a model input. More information about the impact of this substitution on the input correlations and weights can be found in this spreadsheet.