Remodeling in 2021: Kitchens Edge Baths for Top Spot

As National Home Remodeling Month draws to  close, Eye on Housing reports on the most common projects undertaken by NAHB Remodelers during the previous calendar year—in this case, 2021.  The results come from a special question included in the first quarter 2022 survey for the  NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI).

At the top of the list, 81 percent of remodelers said kitchen remodeling was one of the most common remodeling projects for their businesses in 2021, slightly higher than the 78 percent who cited bathroom remodeling as a common project.   Kitchens and baths have historically dueled for the top spot in the NAHB survey.  They finished tied for the top in 2019.  In 2020, baths moved to the top, as the common-project percentage declined less for baths than for kitchens during the COVID-onset year of 2020.   After the downward trends reversed themselves in 2021, kitchen remodeling once again stands alone at the top, a position it last held in 2016.

Whole house remodels finished in third place, cited as one of the most common projects by 58 percent of remodelers in 2021.  Other projects trailed the top three by a substantial margin.  After whole house remodels, the list included other room additions (rooms other than a home office, bathroom, exercise room, or accessory dwelling unit), cited as one of the most common projects by 32 percent of remodelers, finished basements (31 percent), window and door replacements (29 percent) and decks (28 percent).

The 2021 percentages represented new post-2005 highs for whole house remodels and finished basements.   The 28 percent for decks tied the previous post-2005 high set a year earlier.

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