2017 Report: Canadian Home Renovation Trends By The Numbers

With 2017 in the rearview mirror, the top building and home renovation trends from the year have begun rolling in.  Let’s take a look back at how many people renovated in 2017, what their average budgets were, and what it means for you in 2018.

_{(Source: CNW Group/CIBC)}

Overall trend: More Canadians renovated in 2017, but they spent less.

2017 was a good year for renovations! A whopping 48% of Canadian homeowners planned to renovate their homes in 2017, which is up 11% from 2016. The average spend across Canada was $1200 less than last year, coming in around $11,800, but our beautiful home province of Ontario was slightly higher with average budgets of $16,000.  All those individual budgets add up: A report by consultant group Altus found that total renovation spend will reach $72.7 billion in 2017, up from $71.2 billion in 2016, and climb to $74 billion next year. Altus also estimates that Canadians are spending $1.33 on renovations for every $1 they’re spending on new home construction.

So, who’s doing all this renovating? And why?

Canadians seem to be renovating for three main reasons: almost half cite basic maintenance (thanks, wear and tear), 38% renovate for landscaping reasons, and the remaining 31% are renovating their bathrooms.

There has been an interesting shift this year as more and more millennials entered the housing market: For the first time, fewer Boomers (just 36% of the total) than Millennials plan to renovate. With soaring real estate markets across the country, millennials are renovating to ‘increase the value of their home to sell’, and there is speculation that since they’ve had to wait so long to get into the market, they’re gung-ho to get started on their renos as soon as they can. Their biggest renovation projects involve updating undesirable designs or styles: The most popular upgrade in their kitchen renos is countertops, in bathrooms they’re upgrading faucets or plumbing features, and in all other rooms they’re fixing up the wall colours or textures.

How are Canadians paying for their renovations?

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People get their funding from a variety of different sources, but the majority (67%) will use cash or savings to fund their projects. 25% will turn to a line of credit, a loan, or even a credit card. A survey by Houzz.com presented some scary facts: 31% of homeowners don’t bother to make a renovation budget. Almost a third! We’ve written about building your budget quite a lot, whether it be things you might not have factored in, or value vs. cost, or getting the most bang for your buck, because budget matters! Having a clear, realistic idea of how much you want to pay (and what exactly you’re paying for) before starting will keep your reno on track and your budget in check.

So, what you should do with your renovations in 2018?

One takeaway from 2017 trends is to take a page from the Millennials: It’s never too early to start a home reno. If you do decide to take on a project, always keep value at the front of your mind (and your budget): everything you do should add value to your home, and that might affect your budget because long-term investments tend to come with higher price tags. But, the good news is that you are in control of the budget, especially if you’ve done your research and set a budget beforehand. So, when you’re ready to take the leap, do your research, always add value, and enjoy the process of creating your new dream home. After all, 48% of Canadians can’t be wrong!

_{Thanks to our sources.}

_{Feeling ready to reno? Our free eBook is a great place to start!}