Home improvement has always been a big part of homeownership, however that part has been growing as of late. In the past 12 months, 68% of homeowners started or completed home improvement projects, while 63% plan to begin one in the next year, according to a new report from LendingTree.
LendingTree’s latest report surveyed 2,200 U.S. homeowners on their opinions and plans surrounding home improvement projects to reveal the most popular improvements and how consumers pay for their upgrades.
Key highlights:
- With high mortgage rates and low inventory, the majority of homeowners are tackling improvement projects to spruce up their homes. In the past 12 months, 68% of homeowners started or completed home improvement projects, while 63% plan to begin one in the next year.
- Among generations, millennial homeowners have been the busiest, with 78% working on upgrades in the past year and 72% planning to do so in the next 12 months.
- Homeowners with children younger than 18 are significantly more likely to be working on home projects at 80%, while those without children land at 62% and those with children older than 18 are at 58%. Here’s how that breaks down:
- Among all planned or completed projects, interior painting, landscaping and bathroom remodels are the most popular. Among those who’ve started, completed or are planning to start a home project, 61% will focus on interior painting, 54% will work on landscaping and 47% will upgrade their bathrooms.
- The most popular way to pay for these projects typically is with savings. 40% of homeowners doing new windows work are primarily paying with savings—the highest among the projects we highlighted.
- Next were remodeling unused living spaces or basements, upgrading electrical wiring and adding new roofs, all tying at 39%.
- Of these four projects, adding a new roof has the highest expected cost at $9,525, on average.
- Reasons for beginning these projects vary among homeowners. When asked why they’ve worked on a project in the past year or plan to work on one in the next year, 36% say they need to make repairs as their house ages, 27% say their improvements are relatively small and 21% say they’re doing the repairs in preparation to sell their home.
- Across generations, millennials are most likely to be preparing to sell at 29%. Baby boomers are the least likely to make improvements for this reason, with just 10% making improvements because they’re preparing to sell.
- Overall, 39% of homeowners say they turn to Home Depot for ideas, inspiration and information, making it the most common response, followed by Lowe’s (37%) and Pinterest (36%).
Major takeaway:
According to LendingTree senior economist Jacob Channel, there are a few reasons why millennials are the most likely to take on these projects.
“One could be that they’re buying less expensive homes that need more work,” Channel explained. “While there are certainly well-off millennials, members of the generation typically don’t have much wealth compared to their older peers. Owing to this, the only homes that some can afford might be fixer-uppers. Also, millennials may just have more energy to spend on home improvement projects than their older peers.”
Channel continued to say that these projects are likely popular because they involve servicing easily visible and/or high-traffic home areas.
“The more eyes that something has on it, the more likely people might want to make it as presentable as possible,” he said. “Similarly, the more often a person uses something, like their kitchen or bathroom, the more incentive they have to make sure that it’s working as well as it can. On top of that, some of these projects might be more manageable than others, so people might be more willing to take them on.”
Channel concluded that it’s certainly worthwhile for homeowners to make upgrades for this reason—particularly as projects like remodeling a bathroom or sprucing up landscaping can add more value to a home.
“For the most part, the better shape that a home is in, the more likely it is to sell and the more money it’ll be worth,” he explained. “Of course, a botched or unfinished project is going to have the opposite effect. A buyer might be willing to pay more for a home with a recently remodeled kitchen, but they’re probably going to ask for a discount if the kitchen remodel is only half done or done poorly.”
For the full report, click here.
