The cost of home repairs and remodeling in Q1 of 2024 continued to increase, rising by 0.59% from the prior quarter, and just over 4% from the first quarter of 2023, according to the findings in the Q1 2024 Verisk Remodel Index. Setting a new high for the past decade, costs have risen approximately 61% from Q1 of 2014.
“Repair costs rose in each of the 31 categories of home repair that are included in our Index, but the rate of increase continues to be slow down from the more rapid increases we had during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Greg Pyne, VP, Pricing for Verisk Property Estimating Solutions. “Labor costs appear to be coming down slightly as well, which has an impact on the overall cost of home repairs.”
According to Mortgage Point, Quarterly costs rose in all 31 categories included in the Verisk Remodel Index. The cost of framing was still slightly lower on an annual basis, and the only covered category that was not higher than in Q1 of 2023. Framing was the only one of the six largest categories of expenditure to decline on an annual basis. The other four–cabinets, siding, paint, wood look flooring, and plumbing–all rose between 2.5% and 5.5% over the past 12 months. The cost of exterior doors rose the most compared to the last quarter, increasing by over 3.7%. Only two other categories had a quarterly increase of at least 1%—tile flooring at 1.55%, and interior home painting at 1.03%.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) tracks the latest lumber prices and futures prices, and provides an overview of the behaviors within the U.S. framing lumber market weekly using the Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite (comprised using prices from the highest volume-producing regions of the U.S. and Canada). For the week ending June 7, 2024, the Random Lengths framing lumber composite price fell 0.8% from the previous week, marking the first week-to-week decline in the last five weeks.
