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PRESS RELEASE CONTACT: Elizabeth England: (617) 495-7640 April
21, 2005
*For previous RAI press releases, please visit the list of press releases in our Media section* Homeowner
Improvement Spending Shows Sustained Growth
Remodeling Activity Indicator for First Quarter 2005 Released CAMBRIDGE, MA – Home improvement spending by homeowners remains healthy for the first quarter of 2005. According to the Remodeling Activity Indicator (RAI) devised by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, homeowners continue to invest in the homes by spending almost $130 billion on home improvements and repairs over the past four quarters. Spending has increased 5.2% since the first quarter of 2004. The Director of the Joint Center, Nicolas P. Retsinas, remarked that, “modest economic growth and slowly increasing short-term rates have enabled homeowners to continue a steady pace of home improvements.” Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program of the Joint Center, commenting on the reasons behind growth, “payrolls at remodeling firms have been growing at about 5% per year over the past three years. Recently, weekly hours worked per employee have also begun to pick up. Labor supply may begin to cap growth rates in the industry.”
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 July 21, 2005. The Joint Center’s Policy Advisory Board and other industry sponsors support the Remodeling Futures Program. The development of the new RAI is detailed in a working paper entitled W04-4: "An Improved Method for Estimating Homeowner Improvement and Repair Activity Through the Remodeling Activity Indicator." 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. -END- For
more information about the Joint Center and its programs, |
