Houzz Stat: Why Homeowners Are Renovating

Why people decide to renovate. The top triggers for starting a renovation project in 2016 were finally having the time, cited by 37 percent of homeowners who renovated, and finally having the money, cited by 36%.

Another big motivator was purchasing a new home and wanting to customize it, cited by 27% of participants.

Buyers want to customize. The survey data shows that both first-time and repeat home buyers are very likely to start a renovation out of the desire to customize their home. Long-term owners, by contrast, are more likely to start a project because they discover damage.

Plastic gains popularity. Slightly more homeowners used credit cards to fund their renovation projects compared with the year before. Overall, 23 percent of homeowners used credit cards for renovation work in 2016, compared with 21 percent the year before.

Among first-time home buyers, credit card funding is especially popular — 39 percent used plastic to pay for their projects.

See the complete 2017 Houzz & Home Report.