Home Owners Focus on Home Improvement Over Travel and Entertainment

The recent pandemic has changed home owner’s points of view on many aspects of homeownership. HomeAdvisor’s latest survey “State of Home Spending”, showed the average spent on home-improvements in 2020 rose to $13,138 from 2019’s $9,081.

Although the survey says higher cost in labor and materials contributes to the higher number, it still shows an increase in American home owner’s spending average on actual home improvements. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that 85% of Americans are spending more time at home because of COVID-19. Their spending habits are shifting from travel and entertainment to home improvement projects.

The housing market is hot and the increase in home buying has also fueled home improvement spending. Millennials, (those closest to the median age of first-time homebuyers) have been reported to have increased in home buying.

“Homeownership rates for millennials have jumped significantly, especially as COVID-19 has reemphasized the importance of the home and many companies move to flexible work location options,” said Mischa Fisher, chief economist at HomeAdvisor, in a press release. “Millennials are not only rapidly becoming home owners, but they are also spending more on home improvement than any other generation when they do.”

Those projects that have been important in 2020 have changed from those in 2019. The top 2020 projects were interior painting, bathroom remodels and new flooring installations. The top project which has made the list the last several years did not even make it onto the 2020 list. Prior years those that were surveyed by HomeAdvisor said that room remodels were the most important project.

The home maintenance project that saw the biggest increase year-over-year was cleaning and landscaping. The more everyone was at home with the stay-at-home orders, the messier the home could get. Cleaning and landscaping saw an increase from $1,105 in 2019 to $3,192 in 2020.

According to the survey, “painting was one of the most popular projects across nearly all age groups, because it is relatively affordable and offers a lot of visual value in terms of the look and feel of a room.”

American’s perspective on their home has changed dramatically in the wake of COVID-19. In fact, seven in ten respondents said that the pandemic had increased their need for home cooking, 50% were working from home and 40% were incorporating more home entertaining. The “State of Home Spending” survey summed up that home owners are using their home more and more and it has definitely become an even greater factor in their quality of life.

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