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Buildfax: Home Remodeling Keeps Growing
June 14,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on June 15, 2011
The April 2011 BuildFax Remodeling Index released Wednesday showed the 18th consecutive month of growth in home remodeling activity.
The April 2011 index rose 15 percent year-over-yearand to 109.7, the highest April number in the index to date. Buildfax, Austin, Texas, is a national database of historical building permit data. The data demonstrated that consumers are continuing to invest in remodeling, even while the economy continues to struggle and the real-estate market continues to experience sales decreases coast to coast.
In April, all regions posted month-over-month gains, and only the Midwest posted a year-over-year loss. The West was up 16.8 points (18 percent) year-over-year and up 5.3 points (5 percent) month-over-month. The Midwest was down 16.9 points (19 percent) year-over-year and up 10.7 points (17 percent) month-over-month, recovering slightly from a lower-than-average March. The Northeast was up 3.2 points (5 percent) year-over-year and 9.1 points (14 percent) month-over-month, and the South was up 9.6 points (11 percent) year-over-year and 10 points (12 percent) month-over-month.
"April traditionally sets a baseline for the rest of the year in residential remodeling activity, and April 2011 is the best we've seen since the beginning of the index in April 2004," said Joe Emison, vice president of research and development at BuildFax. "The BFRI is indexed to start at 100 in April 2004 and here we are seven years later, after significant drops in housing value, and the index is almost 110. That means there were almost 10 percent more residential remodels in April 2011 than in April 2004. Given the relatively pessimistic economic news that we heard about April, including a slowing recovery, this is a nice surprise for the industry."
Buildfax derives monthly information through related building permit activity filed with local building departments across the country.