Costs for home improvement and repairs have climbed sharply over the past decade, adding more pressure to already stretched household budgets in the United States, according to a new analysis.
"The cost of improvements is increasing so much in part because the price of almost everything is going up. The cost of labor and building supplies is likely playing a major role," Matt Schulz, LendingTree chief consumer finance analyst, told USA Today.
Homeowners are also staying in their homes longer rather than moving, and that trend can keep repair and upgrade spending elevated, Schulz said.
"A lot of families feel stuck because they have a house that does not meet their current needs, but they have a mortgage rate that is far lower than what they would get today. They simply cannot afford to trade a 3% rate for a 7% rate, so they are staying put. That is not likely to change anytime soon, unfortunately," he said.
Routine maintenance for owner-occupied homes is estimated at $1,631 a year on average, but that total rises to $1,800 annually for homes built before 1980. Newer properties are the cheapest to maintain, with costs falling to three figures for homes built in 2013 and later, LendingTree said. Houses built from 2022 to 2023 cost $153 on average to maintain.
Sixty-four percent of the projects analyzed were completed by a professional, with the median project cost coming in at $6,380. That compared with $675 spent on a DIY project.
LendingTree analyzed U.S. Census Bureau American Housing Survey and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for its review.
Nearly 4 in 10 owner-occupied homes, or 30.4 million of the nation's 86.6 million owner-occupied properties, underwent some type of improvement during the latest two-year period studied. There were 115.5 million individual projects, or an average of 2.5 projects per improved home.
But the most common project was not a major renovation. The most frequent single category was a combined group covering water heaters, dishwashers and garbage disposals, with homeowners adding or replacing appliances in 11.5% of all projects tracked. The median cost was $675.
Schulz said it should not be surprising that maintenance and repairs account for the biggest projects.
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