The 2023 Houzz & Home Study surveyed more than 46,000 U.S. homeowners between December 2022 and February 2023 about renovation projects completed in the past year and planned for the year ahead. The results cover additions, upgrades, design choices, and financing, which makes the study one of the largest recent samples of remodeling behavior in the country. For builders and remodelers, the numbers translate directly into project planning: smart sales approaches for home builders work best when they are built on market data rather than guesswork about what clients want next.
Who Is Renovating and Why
Homeowners are renovating for the long term. More than 3 in 5 respondents said they planned to stay in their current residence for 11 years or more after a 2022 renovation, a figure that reached 61 percent. Meanwhile, the share of owners renovating with a plan to sell soon has dropped by half since 2018, from 12 percent down to 6 percent. That shift changes what clients ask for: durable upgrades, comfortable systems, and spaces designed around their own routines rather than the preferences of a future buyer.
Staying put changes the project mix
When homeowners intend to stay, the renovation mix tilts toward livability. Kitchen and bath remodels, home offices, and systems upgrades crowd out the cosmetic staging work that used to accompany listings. Builders who track their own project data against national patterns can confirm whether their local market matches the trend; benchmarking with performance data turns raw job history into a reliable read on demand.
Renovation activity at a glance
- 58 percent of homeowners remodeled in 2022.
- 57 percent redecorated.
- 48 percent made repairs.
- 55 percent planned projects for 2023.
Nearly 3 in 5 homeowners chose to remodel or decorate their homes last year, and the momentum carried into 2023 with more than half planning new projects. For contractors, the takeaway is steady volume rather than a spike: renovation demand is broad-based and continuing.
How Homeowners Fund Their Projects
Savings still dominate renovation funding, with 82 percent of homeowners relying on cash they already had. The second most common source is credit cards at 28 percent, followed by secured home loans at 16 percent. The same financing patterns appear in the 2023 Houzz home survey results as covered by the log home industry press, and they carry a clear signal for builders who offer financing guidance or phased scopes.
The rise of secured home loans
Using secured home loans to finance projects became more prevalent, reaching 16 percent compared with 14 percent in 2020. More than a quarter of homeowners chose secured loans for projects with a median spend above $50,000. Larger renovations are increasingly financed rather than paid from savings, which means clients with big plans may need help structuring the work into fundable phases.
Credit card use is falling
Credit cards remain a common option at 28 percent, but the number of homeowners using them fell by 10 percentage points year over year. Rising card rates and larger project sizes are both pushing owners toward lower-interest loan products. A financing comparison table can help clients see the trade-offs before they commit.
| Funding source | Share of homeowners | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Savings | 82% | Dominant, stable |
| Credit cards | 28% | Down 10 points year over year |
| Secured home loans | 16% | Up from 14% in 2020 |
| Loans for projects over $50k | 26% of borrowers | Growing segment |
Kitchens and Bathrooms Lead the Work
Interior spaces are the most popular renovation target, with 72 percent of homeowners renovating inside and an average of three interior projects taken on at a time. Kitchen and bathroom remodels top the list and both gained share in 2022: kitchens rose to 28 percent from 27 percent, and bathrooms rose to 25 percent from 24 percent the prior year. The steady climb in these two rooms gives remodelers a predictable core of demand.
Additions are growing in number
One in 10 homeowners undertook an addition as part of their 2022 projects, compared with 8 percent in each year from 2018 through 2021. The rooms most associated with additions are kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms, which means the growth is concentrated in the same spaces that already dominate remodeling. Builders who staff for kitchens and baths can also capture the addition work that follows.
Three projects at once is the norm
Homeowners average three interior projects at a time, so scopes tend to bundle. A client renovating a kitchen is likely to pair it with flooring, lighting, or a bathroom refresh in the same season. Selling adjacent scopes becomes easier when the data shows this bundling is standard behavior; performance management that drives real results includes tracking how often bundled proposals close compared with single-room quotes.
Aging Homes Drive Systems Upgrades
The median home age in the U.S. continues to rise, and older houses need their bones refreshed. Nearly 3 in 10 homeowners upgraded plumbing in 2022, followed by electrical at 29 percent and home automation at 28 percent and 25 percent respectively. Among typical upgrades, cooling systems had the highest median spend at $5,500, with heating close behind at $5,000, and more than 1 in 5 renovating homeowners focused on these two systems.
Plumbing, electrical, and automation
The systems upgrade cluster shows that renovation work is no longer only cosmetic. Plumbing, electrical, and home automation improvements are frequent companions to kitchen and bath remodels, and they carry higher margins than finish work when scoped correctly. Finishes interact with systems too: the paint or wallpaper cost comparison depends on wall condition, and walls that have been opened for electrical work are cheaper to finish than pristine surfaces.
Heating and cooling lead spending
Benchmarks worth quoting
Cooling systems carried the highest median spend of any typical upgrade at $5,500, with heating close behind at $5,000. Those figures give a renovator a defensible starting point when a client asks what a system replacement should cost before any site-specific variables are added.
- Quote HVAC replacements as part of whole-house renovations, not as isolated callouts.
- Document the median spend benchmarks ($5,500 cooling, $5,000 heating) when clients ask about typical project size.
- Pair system upgrades with air-sealing work so the new equipment performs to its rated efficiency.
- Schedule mechanical rough-ins before finish work to avoid rework on walls and ceilings.
Renovation Activity Across Generations
Baby boomers continued to lead renovation activity at 59 percent, followed by Gen Xers at 27 percent and Millennials at 9 percent. The generational split matters less than the spending shift underneath it: Gen Xers surpassed Baby Boomers in median spend in 2022 for the first time. A smaller share of renovators now accounts for a larger share of dollars, so targeting the right demographic changes who you market to more than how much work exists.
Reading the data like test results
Survey statistics reward the same discipline as field testing: you compare your own numbers against a baseline before drawing conclusions. Just as interpreting concrete in-situ test results requires knowing the strength that was specified, interpreting survey data requires knowing what question each number answers. The Houzz study answers what homeowners did and planned to do; it does not price your local market or predict your pipeline.
Where the growth is concentrated
Boomers renovate in the largest numbers, but Gen X is spending the most per project. Millennials are early in their homeownership cycle and will feed the market as their housing stock ages. Each group responds to different messaging: boomers value comfort and accessibility, Gen X values scope and financing flexibility, and Millennials value energy performance and technology.
Turning Survey Data Into a Business Plan
The practical use of the 2023 study is prioritization. Kitchens, bathrooms, and systems upgrades are the reliable core; additions are the growth segment; and financing conversations are now part of nearly every large sale. Builders who act on these patterns can align staffing, marketing, and subcontractor relationships before the seasonal rush arrives.
Execution quality still decides outcomes
Market data tells you what to build, but the finished quality is what generates referrals and repeat business. The same principle applies in the field as in the office: proper compaction of concrete and correct vibration technique determine whether a slab holds up, just as accurate estimating and honest scheduling determine whether a renovation relationship holds up. Both are invisible when done right and costly when skipped.
A checklist for the coming season
- Review your 2022 job mix against the national renovation shares for kitchens, baths, and systems.
- Add financing discussion to your sales process for any project estimated above $50,000.
- Prepare bundled scopes for the three-project average that homeowners commonly take on.
- Shift marketing weight toward Gen X if your backlog skews toward larger projects.
- Track systems-upgrade attach rates on kitchen and bath quotes to measure the trend in your own market.