Homeowners Expected to Slow Their Roll on Remodeling Projects This Year

Homeowners are still spending money on home improvement projects, but they’ll likely pull back on their spending in the year ahead.

According to the latest projections from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, growth in this category is expected to fall to the lowest rate in three years. While no major metros will see remodeling expenditures decline, 29 of 49 will see spending slow in 2019.

Why the slowdown? Cities with cooling home prices and even cooler home-sale action just can’t sustain the same pace of home improvement that they have in recent years, the researchers said.

Markets where the slowdown will be particularly pronounced include San Antonio, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Dallas, the report indicated.

But other markets will buck the trend, including Orlando and Vegas, which have both seen a surge in remodeling permits as house prices and homebuilding in those cities pick up.

The western part of the country will see the strongest growth in home remodeling expenditures, the study revealed, projecting at least an 8% uptick in Sacramento, Denver, Seattle, Tucson, San Jose and Las Vegas.

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