Homeowners are renewing interest in remodeling

LAS VEGAS --If youve put off redoing that kitchen or adding a deck while waiting for the economy to perk up, welcome to the club.

Like the rest of the housing market, home improvements and remodeling plunged during the recession as consumers hunkered down.

But now that economic conditions are improving, the forecast for home fix-ups is looking up, too.

Future market indicators, which have been lagging a little bit, have jumped up, said Paul Emrath, a research vice president with the National Association of Home Builders. Calls for bids and appointments for remodeling proposals are increasing significantly.

They are basically as high as they have ever been, Emrath told builders meeting for the industrys annual exposition this week in Las Vegas.

The outlook for home remodeling in the year ahead is the best its been in almost a decade, based on the most recent remodeling industry surveys by the homebuilders association.

Home improvement expenditures are forecast to rise by almost a third from the worst of the market in early 2011 to late this year.

Remodeling fell by about 30 percent during the recession.

Thats not as big as the decline in housing starts, which was closer to 80 percent, Emrath said. Our forecast is for slow and steady increases going forward.

There is still pent-up activity waiting to be released, he said. We had a lot of projects put off as we went through the decline.

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Homeowners are renewing interest in remodeling