House under construction

Housing Perspectives

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

Sharp Slowdown Projected in the Pace of Home Remodeling

Annual gains in improvement and maintenance expenditures to owner-occupied homes are expected to decline sharply by the middle of next year, according to our latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA). The LIRA projects year-over-year growth in homeowner remodeling and repair spending to shrink from 16.1 percent in 2022 to 6.5 percent by the third quarter of 2023.

Housing and remodeling markets are undoubtedly slowing from the exceptionally high and unsustainable growth rates that followed in the wake of the pandemic-induced recession. Spending for home improvements will continue to face headwinds from declining home sales, rising interest rates, and the increasing costs of contractor labor and building materials.

Although remodeling market gains are expected to cool significantly next year, homeowners still have record levels of home equity to support financing of renovations. Energy-efficiency retrofits incentivized by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, as well as disaster repairs and mitigation projects following Hurricane Ian will further support expansion of the home remodeling market to almost $450 billion in 2023.

Click image for full-size chart. 

LIRA 2022 Q3

For more information, visit the LIRA page of our website.