Home Remodeling Climbs to 2006 Levels

By Kyle Chezum Updated on 9/25/2013

Re-modeling in homes climbed 11% in January 2012 from the 2011 levels. This was a a seasonally adjusted number according to BuildFax.

The home remodeling projects rose to 3 million on an annual basis in January, 2012. This number was up approximately 13% from the 2.65 million annual number estimated in December 2011.

The January number is the highest number we have seen since June of 2006. All regions of the country showed growth over January 2011.  The only region which showed a decline was the Northeast which slipped when compared to December.

The South was the big driver of these home remodeling projects. The South's number was 1.12 million which  made up over 30% of of the U.S. overall remodeling.

This all looks good for an economy in recession. Remodeling projects do not create as much revenue as construction of new homes but they are still a great booster of the economy. Remodeling projects usually cost $10,000, while new home consutrctions average about $184,000.  This along with some other programs that the Federal Government has put in place such as HARP 2 program, are helping fuel the regrowth of the economy.