High interest rates are foreclosing on the American dream of home remodeling — SkimNews
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- Home Depot and Lowe's saw big-ticket renovation categories decline 10% to 28% year-over-year from September 2025 through August 2026, with shower stalls and kits falling 21% in sales and 28% in units, per Datavations point-of-sale data.
- Angi's Angie Hicks said homeowners are living in their houses about five years longer than planned, holding onto 2-3% mortgages, and prioritizing maintenance like furnace tune-ups over major remodels, with 60% of consumers putting off projects.
- Tom Graff, CIO of Facet, said Fed rate hikes are designed to suppress consumer spending and that big-ticket purchases like renovations 'will be hit particularly hard,' warning data centers are now the economy's main driver.
- Homeowners originated nearly 20% more second mortgages and HELOCs in Q2 versus Q1, but Tulane's Mark Ratchford said they are tapping equity to cover credit card debt, not to fund improvements.
- HomeHero Roofing's Andre Kazimierski said customers historically used HELOCs to pay for roof, window, and HVAC replacements, and warned that deferred unavoidable repairs could leave homes more vulnerable to extreme weather.
- A clear price-tier gradient emerged: lower-ticket items like $147 kitchen faucets fell just 3%, while $300-$700 bathtubs and shower stalls saw steep double-digit declines, with Datavations' Philip Odelfelt noting 'the customer walking in with a renovation project is increasingly absent.'
Why it matters: With $147 kitchen faucets down only 3% but $700 shower stalls down 28% in units, the renovation market is bifurcating sharply: maintenance spending holds while discretionary projects collapse. Home Depot and Lowe's are masking per-store weakness by adding SKUs, and contractors like HomeHero Roofing report fewer customers can fund unavoidable roof and HVAC work — a deferred-maintenance cycle that could compound as severe weather intensifies.
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