Remodeling Should Continue To Grow This Year

Washington, DC, Feb. 13, 2012 -- The residential remodeling market will continue to grow in 2012, according to panelists at a press conference held at the National Association of Home Builders International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla.

While the overall housing market conditions continue to create a drag on remodeling growth, the growing trend among home owners to remain in their homes and remodel has provided a boost to the remodeling market.
 
“Remodelers are poised to continue our industry’s gradual improvement as we start 2012,” said 2012 NAHB Remodelers Chairman George “Geep” Moore, Jr., a remodeler from Elm Grove, La.

“It is our hope that home owners who want to remodel this year face less constrictions from lack of financing, fear of lost equity and challenging appraisals.”
 
The strongest sectors of the remodeling market are aging-in-place retrofits, energy efficiency upgrades, and reinvesting in distressed properties.

The leading indicator for remodeling points to continued market volatility, but stronger growth in the second half of 2012.
 
“Spending on improvements to owner-occupied housing is nearly equal to that of new residential construction,” said Paul Emrath, NAHB’s vice president for survey and housing policy research.\

“NAHB predicts that residential remodeling will rise 8.9 percent in 2012.”