The home remodeling market should see strong growth in 2014, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released today by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The double-digit gains in annual home improvement spending projected for the first half of the year should moderate some to just under 10 percent by the third quarter.
“The ongoing growth that we’ve seen in home prices, housing starts, and existing home sales is also being reflected in home improvement activity,” says Eric S. Belsky, managing director of the Joint Center. “As owners gain more confidence in the housing market, they are likely to undertake home improvements that they have deferred.”
“However, the strong growth for this cycle may start to ebb a bit beginning around midyear,” says Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center. “By that time, we’ll be approaching the pre-recessionary levels of spending, and with borrowing costs starting to creep back up, growth rates are likely to slow some.”
The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) is designed to estimate national homeowner spending on improvements for the current quarter and subsequent three quarters. The indicator, measured as an annual rate-of-change of its components, provides a short-term outlook of homeowner remodeling activity and is intended to help identify future turning points in the business cycle of the home improvement industry. The development of the LIRA is detailed in “Developing a Leading Indicator for the Remodeling Industry” (JCHS Research Note N07-1). In July 2008, the LIRA was re-benchmarked due to changes in the underlying reference series. These changes are explained in “Addendum to Research Note N07-1: Re-Benchmarking the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity” (JCHS Research Note N08-1). The LIRA is released by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University in the third week after each quarter’s closing. The next LIRA release date is April 17, 2014.
The Remodeling Futures Program, initiated by the Joint Center for Housing Studies in 1995, is a comprehensive study of the factors influencing the growth and changing characteristics of housing renovation and repair activity in the United States. The Program seeks to produce a better understanding of the home improvement industry and its relationship to the broader residential construction industry. PR
Related Stories
Peppermill Finish
Selling Your Company to Your Team
From company valuation to terms of the transfer, here’s a look at how three different remodelers made the deal work
What's Beyond the Hammer?
Working with Brian Gottlieb on the book Beyond the Hammer provided a masterclass on how to build an aligned team
4 Steps to Prep Your Business for Contraction
How a remodeling company plans ahead for the worst of times (and the best of times)
Creating a Company Fire Drill: How to Prepare for the Worst
A disastrous fire could have been a lot worse if the business wasn’t prepared for the unexpected
The Fundamentals of Growing Profitably
On this episode of Women at WIRC podcast, Nip Tuck Remodeling Owner April Bettinger shares how she plans for her company's profitable growth
3 Things to Add to Your Construction Contract—From a Lawyer
Did you know you can add these three elements to your contracts?
Study Finds Remodelers’ Net Profits Declined
How far did net profits decline and what's influencing the drop?
The Home Depot Bets on Pros Amid Predictions of Flat Sales Growth
For the first time since 2019, The Home Depot’s revenue fell short of Wall Street’s predictions amid a general softening in the home improvement market