Dive Brief:
- Homeowners spent 12% more in 2015 on kitchen and bath remodels — the most popular types of home renovations — than they did in 2014, according to a Houzz survey.
- More than 25% of renovations are triggered by a home purchase, and those homeowners are most likely to invest more money in larger-scale projects.
- Millennials are just as likely to launch a home renovation project as any other age group, but baby boomers over the age of 55 outspend millennials by triple the dollar amount.
Dive Insight
Other takeaways from the survey:
- Although kitchen (31%) and bath (22%-26%) remodels remain the most popular, living/family room (23%) renovations were close behind.
- The top two reasons for renovating — aside from moving to a new home — were a desire to stay in an existing home (49%) or neighborhood (31%).
- Recent home purchasers (33%) also spend more money on home automation upgrades than existing homeowners, as do millennials (26%).
- Homeowners employ a variety of financing options for renovations, including savings (82%) and home equity lines of credit (8%), with millennials (32%) more likely than baby boomers (17%) to use credit cards.
- Approximately the same percentage of homeowners (31%) exceed their renovation budgets or don't even bother setting one in the first place, with those who exceeded their budgets spending significantly more than those who stayed on target.
- Approximately 85% of homeowners chose to have a professional help them with their renovation, with 46% choosing a remodeler/contractor and 20% choosing an architect or interior designer.
In its first-quarter Remodeling Market Index (RMI) survey, the National Association of Home Builders found that the main driver of home remodels is the homeowner's desire for new or upgraded home features. The survey found that homeowners also wanted to replace outdated items or add more living space.
The NAHB also said that the preference to age in place and to increase home values are gaining importance to homeowners but that energy efficiency is slightly losing ground. Large projects gained popularity over smaller-scale renovations, the NAHB found, with increases in whole house remodels (10%), room additions (12%), finished basements (8%) and bathroom additions (7%).
