PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: Elizabeth England: (617) 495-7640

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The past four quarters proved to be a good year for remodeling expenditures, with homeowner expenditures rising by 6.1%, and total spending exceeding $122 billion. "Given a resilient housing market and low interest rates, homeowners continue to reinvest in their homes in the midst of a sputtering economy" remarks Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Kermit Baker, director of the Center’s Remodeling Futures Program, explains that “home sales have been at or near record levels in recent months. When households purchase a home, they typically undertake some desired improvements.” He concludes that, “low interest rates have made these improvements more affordable.”

The RAI is regularly released by the Joint Center’s Remodeling Futures Program during the third week after each quarter’s closing—two quarters before the U.S. Commerce Department’s data on residential improvements and repairs is available—in order to provide industry with an accurate and timely reading of national remodeling activity levels. The next release date is October 16, 2003.

The Remodeling Futures Program is supported by the Joint Center’s Policy Advisory Board and other industry sponsors. The development of the RAI is detailed in "W98-6: Development of an Indicator for the Homeowner Improvement Market."

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies is the nation’s leading center for information and research on housing in the United States. Established in 1959, the Joint Center is a collaborative unit affiliated with the Harvard Design School and the Kennedy School of Government. The Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies since 1998 is Nicolas P. Retsinas. For more information, the website is www.jchs.havard.edu.

For more information about the Joint Center and its programs,
please call (617) 495-7908.