Driven by growth in the economy and improvements in housing, the Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI) forecast for 2013 is for a 4.3% growth in U.S. home improvement spending, following a 5.4% gain in 2012, lifting the home improvement market to $287.3 billion.
The forecast is for the value of products sold for home improvement activities and excludes the cost of contractor labor.
Key factors driving growth:

  • New-home starts are improving and existing-home sales are seeing increases both in numbers of homes sold and in prices.
  • Economic growth, while still expected to be mild, will help consumers feel comfortable with spending on their homes.
  • The impact of repairs from Hurricane Sandy is expected to contribute 0.3 to the overall growth rate. 

—Stacey Freed is a senior editor at REMODELING. twitter.com/SFreed

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