With interest in home buying on the rise again, with prices rising, and with household formation accelerating, more Americans are getting set to put money into their homes. According to a new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing, growth in home improvement and repair expenditures will reach eight percent by the beginning of twenty seventeen.
As reported by CNBC, that is far beyond the historical average of a bit less than five percent. According to the Harvard researchers, by the middle of next year, the national remodeling market should be very close to a full recovery from the worst downturn on record.
Part of this move to reinvest in the home is due to near record low mortgage rates, which is enticing owners to refinance and sometimes pull equity out of their homes. Thanks to rising home values, during the first three months of twenty sixteen, American homeowners collectively gained more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in additional home equity.
Thanks in part to that increase, thirty eight million borrowers now have at least twenty percent equity in their homes according to Black Knight Financial Services. Among the major beneficiaries of the upcoming home improvement boom are Home Depot, Lowes, and Sherwin Williams.
