Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
The Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI) released the Quarterly Homeowner Project Activity Tracker Q3 2025, detailing homeowners’ attitudes and motivations driving home improvement initiatives, purchasing patterns and future home improvement activity. Here are some fast facts from the study:
- Home improvement activity peaked for the year in the third quarter:
- 84% of respondents completed routine home maintenance
- 73% completed home repairs
- 41% tackled home renovations
- The economy continues to be the top concern among homeowners (53%), followed by inflation (36%), personal finance (35%), personal healthcare (27%) and political environment (26%) concerns.
- Planned home improvement spending ranked in the middle out of all household spending plans, with 45% of respondents planning to spend the same amount on home improvement in the next 12 months and 30% planning to spend more.
- Project sentiment cooled in the third quarter of 2025, especially for larger projects.
- 69% of homeowners said the Q3 2025 was a bad time to start a home improvement project costing over $25,000
- 52% said it was a less-than-ideal time to hire a contractor for a job
- Home improvement projects in Q3 shifted from exterior to interior as the seasons changed.
- 52% of homeowners worked on bathroom projects
- 26% completed kitchen projects
- 25% completed living space upgrades
- DIY remained a top approach for homeowners, with 56% completing home improvement projects themselves. Reasons for this include:
- 72%: Cheaper if I did the work
- 59%: Able to do the work myself
- 39%: I enjoy the work
