INDIANAPOLIS — The current U.S. inflation bulge is expected to continue to decelerate home-improvement spending, although growth in the total home improvement products market should nevertheless increase in 2023, according to a forecast by the Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI).
The Indianapolis–based HIRI, a leading resource for market research tied to the home and building products industry, said today that growth in the total home improvement products market is expected to decelerate from 7.2% in 2022 to 1.5% in 2023, with the consumer market growing by 0.6% and the professional market growing by 3.6%.
Recent home improvement product market growth appears to have peaked in 2021 at 15.8%, driven by surges in demand for home renovation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, HIRI observed.
“Today, rising prices on core personal consumption expenditures are eroding households’ real income growth and slowing consumer spending, including on home improvement projects,” the research firm said, adding that while wages across the nation are slowly increasing, they have not yet outpaced the impacts of inflation.
“After two years of double-digit growth in the home improvement market, economic pressures are expected to slow activity next year,” said HIRI Operations Director Pam Heidel. “However, the market is still expected to grow.”