For the past four years, everyone, and we mean everyone, has been doing some form of home improvement. All your friends are redoing their kitchens, your spouse keeps asking when you can renovate the bathrooms, and your best friend just built their dream home office with—don’t get too excited—recessed lighting. This was the home renovation boom of the decade, and now, we could be at the tail end of it.

With home improvement spending starting to dip, interest rates keeping homeowners from big projects, and labor costs still sky-high, what happens when enough demand leaves the market? Do material prices fall as manufacturers try to lure homeowners back in? Will labor costs soften with contractors waiting for work? We brought on The Wall Street Journal’s Ryan Dezember to get some answers.

In today’s show, we discuss the boom and bust of lumber prices, why home renovations are starting to stall, what impact this could have on materials, and whether or not the home improvement spree will pick back up as new construction starts decline. If you’re planning a home renovation, you'll want to hear this episode before you begin.

In This Episode We Cover

An update on the home renovation industry and why demand is shrinking

Labor costs and the factory-building boom that’s taking away all the contractors

The surprisingly old age of most American homes and why so many renovations happened

High interest rates and their effects on home improvement project spending

Whether or not we’re already in the home renovation “slowdown” and what could happen next

And So Much More!

Links from the Show

Join the Future of Real Estate Investing with Fundrise

Join BiggerPockets for FREE

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See Dave at BPCON2024 in Cancun!

Dave's BiggerPockets Profile

James' BiggerPockets Profile

BiggerPockets Real Estate 514 - How Small Landlords Can Beat the Hedge Funds

This Could Be the Year the Home-Improvement Boom Fizzles Out. Here's Why.

Deck Maker’s $450 Million Bet on America’s Renovation Boom

Grab “The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs”

Jump to topic:

(00:00) Intro

(02:36) The Home Renovation Boom

(06:58) The Labor Shortage Explained

(10:51) Which Costs Are Rising the Most?

(14:44) High Rates Curb Demand

(20:20) More Supply, Lower Prices?

(25:59) Home Renovation Predictions

Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/on-the-market-236

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236: Will Home Renovation Costs Go Down in 2024 as Demand Begins to Dip? w/WSJ’s Ryan Dezember 34:21 Share

On The Market

Shownotes Transcript

236: Will Home Renovation Costs Go Down in 2024 as Demand Begins to Dip? w/WSJ’s Ryan Dezember