Using Additions and Alterations Permits to Estimate Remodeling Activity in Metropolitan Areas

Rachel Roth

Current sources of home improvement data are limited by lack of detailed geographic information. Even surveys with the most comprehensive coverage generate imprecise estimates of home improvement activity at the state, metropolitan area, or county level. However, in January 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau resumed the collection of monthly data on permits for residential additions and alterations. While the data have serious limitations and require a fair amount of “cleaning” before analysis, they can be used to supplement other data sources to provide more specific insights on the location of home improvement activity, and how this activity relates to other economic trends. This paper proposes improvements to the data collection and reporting procedures by the Census Bureau that should increase the accuracy and applications of future analyses using additions and alterations data…