Remodeling (improvement) spending edged up 0.1% in June—the only residential construction category to post a gain—but now stands 7.2% below its year-ago level, according to the National Association of Home Builders' analysis of revised U.S. Census Bureau construction spending data.
Substantial downward revisions erased what had looked like a strong spring for the remodel market: April, initially reported as a 1.6% monthly gain, is now shown as a 10.1% drop, while May moved from a 0.9% gain to a 0.4% decline. Against the prior year, April swung from 10.0% growth to a 2.6% decline and May from an 8.1% gain to a 5.5% decline.
NAHB notes improvement spending had climbed steadily since 2023, a trend the organization attributes to the aging housing stock and continued renovation demand, but the revised figures suggest a slowdown may be taking hold in 2026.
Overall private residential construction spending slipped 0.3% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $877.1 billion, 4.7% below a year earlier. Single-family spending fell 0.6% for the month and is down 3.3% year-over-year, while multifamily spending declined 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively.
Read the full report here.
