NEW YORK–Credit unions may want to prepare for a new boom in home equity secured lines of credit and other types of lending given a new forecast.
While spending on single-family home construction remains 40% below the levels of a decade ago, the forecast projects that residential remodeling and repairs in 2016 will surpass records set during the housing boom.
The projections from John Burns Real Estate Consulting and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies call for more than $300 billion to be spent this year on home repairs and remodels, ahead of the previous high of about $285 billion in 2007.
Analysts suggested to The Wall Street Journal that the low inventory of homes available, plus escalating prices, have led many to invest in the homes they already have.
The number of for-sale listings as a percentage of occupied households in the U.S. has hit a record low this year, according to data compiled by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, and recent surveys have shown that a lack of available homes is one of the top reasons that prospective home buyers haven’t moved, the Wall Street Journal reported.
John Burns Real Estate Consulting is further projecting that home improvement spending is expected to continue growing at a fast clip over the next three years, with spending on home repairs and remodeling growing faster than new residential construction through 2019, largely because of a projected slowdown in multifamily apartment projects, The Wall Street Journal reported.