Annual gains in homeowner spending for improvements and repairs are set to give out by the second half of next year, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The LIRA projects that annual home improvement and maintenance expenditures will post a modest decline of 0.3 percent through the third quarter of 2020.
“Continued weakness in existing home sales and new construction will lead to sluggish remodeling activity next year,” says Chris Herbert, Managing Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies. “Slowdowns in other key indicators of improvement spending — project permitting, sales of building materials, and home prices — also suggest the remodeling market may be reaching a turning point.”