U.S. homeowners want to remodel, but they don’t want to go into debt doing so.
According to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) overseen by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, home remodeling spending is expected to increase 8.6% by the end of 2016. With existing home prices increasing for more than four consecutive years and housing inventory still low, according to the National Association of Realtors, the Joint Center for housing studies predicts that remodeling will continue to increase 9.7% by the first quarter of next year.