Home renovation spending increased by $4.5 billion in 2009

The renovation hysteria that hit Canada in 2009 increased renovation spending by $4.5 billion according to survey data released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The CMHC’s Renovation and Home Purchase Survey was released at the beginning of June and found that the average cost of each household’s renovations was around $12,000.

“More than $25.8 billion was spend on renovations in 2009 across the 10 major surveyed centres, and increase of about $4.5 billion compared to 2008,” said the senior economist at the CMHC. “As well, when Canadian homeowners were asked about their renovations for this year, 43 per cent indicated that they intend to spend $1,000 or more by the end of 2010.”

Toronto was one of those major urban centres, where the lowest number of respondents (five per cent) said that they had purchased a home in 2009. The same number of respondents across the board said they were intending to buy a home in 2010.

A total of 76 per cent of the households in major urban centres that underwent the renovations used their savings as opposed to credit, and a whopping 52 per cent renovated in order to sell their homes or add value.

The top three renovations across the country in were remodeling rooms, painting or wallpapering and new flooring, either hard wood or carpeting. St. John’s led the renovations with the highest number of households renovating for more than $1,000 at 59 per cent, while Montreal was the lowest number at only 45 per cent.