CAMBRIDGE, MA — After a mild pullback last year, spending for improvements and repairs on owner-occupied homes is set to expand once again by the latter part of 2025, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA), a quarterly market gauge released by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
The latest LIRA, released late in 2024, projects that annual expenditures for home renovation and maintenance will increase 1.2%, growing from its year-end 2024 level of $469 billion to $477 billion through the third quarter of 2025.
Harvard’s forecast is in line with other market forecasts. “A continued thaw in new-home construction and sales of existing homes bodes well for an uptick in residential improvement and repairs,” said Carlos Martín, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Cambridge, MA-based Joint Center.
“Stronger gains in home values, and thus home-equity levels, should (also) boost both discretionary and ‘need-to-do’ replacement projects for homeowners staying in place,” Martin added.