Residential remodeling reached record levels last year as Americans spent $80.3 billion to improve and repair their homes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
”This represents a 15 percent increase over total 1984 remodeling expenditures,” said David C. Smith, president of the 142,000-member trade association. ”And we expect an increase in 1986 as well.”
Remodeling activity has soared 78 percent–from $45 billion to $80.3 billion–in the past four years, at least in part because sales of new and existing homes have been so strong, Smith said. ”Typically, when a family buys a home, they make a number of improvements or alterations.”
Smith noted that total remodeling expenditures reached the highest quarterly figure ever recorded–$90.6 billion on an annual basis–in the last quarter of 1985.
The 1985 figures, compiled by the U. S. Bureau of the Census, showed a 22 percent increase in maintenance and repairs, a 23.5 percent increase in major replacements such as a roof or new furnace and a 34 percent decrease in additions.
The figures also revealed a marked increase in multifamily remodeling projects, Smith said. ”Multifamily remodeling increased from $23.2 billion in 1984 to $29.5 billion in 1985. That`s a 27 percent increase.”
Single-family remodeling, however, showed a more modest increase. It grew 9 percent between 1984 and 1985 with an increase from $46.6 billion to $50.8 billion.
”Thesurge in multifamily remodeling may be due to a number of factors,” Smith said. ”The rental market has become more competitive and some people may be preparing to sell their property because of the treatment multifamily housing is expected to receive under the new tax reform bill.”
He added that 75 percent of all remodeling projects are done by professionals and the rest by do-it-yourselfers.
