Houzz released its 2024 U.S. Houzz & Home Study report. The findings are supported by a total of 32,615 users, including 17,713 renovating U.S. homeowners on Houzz about their home renovations in 2023 and plans for 2024.
This study is the largest survey of residential remodeling, building and decorating professionals published. Covering a wide range of renovation projects, the survey included everything from interior remodels and additions to home systems, exterior upgrades and outdoor projects. The gathered data is made up of historical and planned spends, professional involvement, motivations and challenges behind building, renovation and decorating projects, as well as planned activities for 2024.
According to Houzz, some findings include:
Home Renovation Spend Hits New High: Renovation spend has surged in the past three years, with the median spend* increasing by 60% between 2020 ($15,000) and 2023 ($24,000). The top 90th percentile of spend rose as well, increasing by 77% between 2020 ($85,000) and 2023 ($150,000). In addition, more than half of renovating homeowners (51%) spent $25,000 or more on their renovations in 2023, up from 37% in 2020.
Planning Time Far Exceeds Building Time: Homeowners dedicate about twice as much time on average to the planning phase of a renovation project compared with the construction phase, across all rooms. Kitchen renovations had the longest timeline in 2023, with 9.6 months of planning and 5.1 months of building on average. Living rooms follow, with 8.1 months of planning and 4.1 months of building.
Credit Card Use Surges: Cash from savings continues to be the most common funding for renovation projects (83%), followed at a distance by credit cards (37%). That said, credit card use jumped by 9 percentage points in 2023, from 28% in 2022. Homeowners gravitate toward diversified funding sources for bigger-budget projects, between $50,000 and $200,000, using home loans and cash from home sales (23% and 21%, respectively) nearly as commonly as credit cards (32%).
