With homes becoming so difficult to buy, it seems many current homeowners decided to improve their own spaces last year.
According to the National Association of Realtors, around $420 billion was spent on home remodeling in 2020. The numbers were part of the 2022 Remodeling Impact Report, released by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry on Wednesday.
"Our study revealed that homeowners tend to undertake a remodeling project for any number of reasons," said Jessica Lautz, vice president of demographics and behavioral insights at NAR. "In some instances, homeowners were content with sprucing up a room with a simple paint job, while in other cases, families decided to take on the task of renovating an entire attic or basement to add additional living space to their home."
Interestingly, the study rated projects by a "Joy Score."
For interior remodeling projects, painting either a room (or the entire inside), along with new wood flooring or refinishing hardwood flooring, insulation upgrades, closet renovations, and adding a new home office all had perfect 10 joy scores.
Hardwood flooring refinishing (147%) and adding new wood flooring (118%) had the greatest cost recovery when it came to resale value.
For outdoor projects, painting exterior siding had the highest joy score (9.8). While replacing the roof, and replacing the garage were most likely to provide the greatest cost recovery.
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