Homeowners should expect to reach deeper into their wallets if they want to update their homes this year, according to projections by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Home improvement expenditures will be increasing in most of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas throughout 2022.
 
A rise in home improvement spending of 13.8% is projected across 48 metropolitan areas, while owner expenditures are expected to grow between 7.6% and 23%. Six of these metro areas are expected to surpass the projection for national remodeling spending of 17% growth this year, and all but one is tracked for higher growth in 2022 than in 2021. The largest gains are projected in southern sun belt areas, such as Tucson, Ariz. (23%), Riverside, Calif. (21.9%), and Phoenix, Ariz. (20.3%).
 
“Record-breaking home price appreciation, solid home sales, and high incomes are all contributing to stronger remodeling activity in our nation’s major metros,” said Sophia Wedeen, a research assistant in the Remodeling Futures Program at the Center.
 
Despite these projections, experts caution this rise in expenditures may not continue in perpetuity. 
 
“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,” said Carlos Martín, project director of the Remodeling Futures Program. “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.”
 
For more information, visit https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/.

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