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Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies says the estimated recent growth of homeowner remodeling spending has eased substantially but still remains near its long-term rate of 5 percent. According to the Remodeling Activity Indicator devised by Harvard's JCHS, homeowners spent an estimated 155 billion dollars on home improvements and repairs over the past four quarters, representing a 4.5 percent increase.
"Rising interest rates and a cooling housing market have started to impact spending on home improvements," said Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the JCHS. "Delays in initiating major improvement projects are likely to moderate spending over the next year."
"Remodeling contractors recently have reported a slight decline in hours worked by their employees, and more modest growth in their payrolls" said Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program of the JCHS. "This points to remodeling following home building into a period of slower growth in the months ahead."
The next RAI release date is July 20.
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