Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Annual spending for home improvements and maintenance is expected to grow modestly through 2026, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University. LIRA projects year-over-year spending for home renovation and repair will increase 2.5%, reaching a record $526 billion by Q1 2026.
“A slight downturn after the pandemic’s record expenditures gave way to modest gains in the sector this year,” says Carlos Martín, director of the remodeling futures program at JCHS. “Recent increases in the sales of existing homes are expected to drive slow but steady growth in home remodeling and repair.”
Higher home values and other strong economic indicators have supported the uptick in remodeling and repair spending, but the economic uncertainty could dampen the expected growth, says Chris Herbert, managing director of JCHS.
LIRA provides a short-term outlook of national home improvement and repair spending to owner-occupied homes. The indicator, measured as an annual rate-of-change of its components, is designed to project the annual rate of change in spending for the current quarter and subsequent four quarters, and is intended to help identify future turning points in the business cycle of the home improvement and repair industry.
