AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With millions of Americans either unable to secure a mortgage or having to remain in their current home because they cannot sell the property, remodeling activity continues to soar. Today, BuildFax unveiled its BuildFax Remodeling Index (BFRI) for July 2011 and it shows that remodeling activity reached a record high during the month. The data also indicates that as consumers are putting more discretionary income into their homes, there are now a record number of under-insured properties from coast to coast.
The latest BFRI shows that July 2011 became the month with the highest level of remodeling activity since the Index was introduced in 2004. During these historically difficult economic times there has been an upswing in the sales of building materials and the number of renovations greater than $10,000. These factors, and that fact that many consumers have not increased the insurance on their homes to account for the remodeling, puts many homes at risk as they are not carrying the proper level of insurance for the new, true value of their homes.
“As millions of Americans believe that they will not be able to secure a new home due to a variety of factors including tight credit, limited buyers and challenging job prospects, they are more and more turning to renovating and remodeling their current properties, sending remodeling activity to record levels,” said Joe Emison, Vice President of Research and Development at BuildFax. “However, this remodeling boom is leaving many of these properties under-insured, as the value of these renovations are often not being captured by the homeowners’ insurance companies.”
Today’s report reveals continued month-over-month gains for most regions of the country, with data demonstrating that consumers are continuing to invest in remodeling, even as fears grow of a double-dip recession and unemployment remains above 9 percent.
July Signifies 21 Consecutive Months of Industry Growth
The latest BFRI, detailing remodeling activity from July 2011, indicates that residential remodeling activity registered the 21st-straight month of year-over-year gains, demonstrating that many Americans are continuing to remodel their current homes, rather than purchasing new homes.
The BFRI is the only source directly reporting residential remodeling activity across the nation with monthly information derived through related building permit activity filed with local building departments across the country. This monthly report provides month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons on trends in remodeling activity for the entire United States, as well as for the four major regions of the country: Northeast, South, Midwest, and West.
Half of the Country See Month-over-Month Gains
The July 2011 index rose 24% percent year-over-year—and for the 21st straight month—in July to 130.4, the highest number ever in the index to date.
In July, the West (3.4 points; 3%) and Midwest (4.9 points; 5%) had month-over-month gains, while the South (3.3 points; 3%) and Northeast (2.7 points; 3.4%) saw a decline. On a positive note, the Northeast was up half a point (.7%) from July of 2010, as was the West (26.4 points; 26%), South (6.2 points; 7%), and Midwest (5.6 points; 5.6%).
Historic index values (going back to early 2004) are available for purchase from http://index.buildfax.com/.
BuildFax in the News:
To help consumers know detailed information about the “life story” of their new home, BuildFax offers access to BuildFax Buyer’s Reports, which include relevant permit data regarding key upgrades and repairs made to the property, simply by searching for an address.
A BuildFax Buyer’s Report provides comprehensive information that allows both buyers and sellers to “see within the walls” like never before. The reports, previously only available to industry professionals, are available for $39.99 at www.BuildFax.com. BuildFax tracks building, remodeling and repair data on over 70 million homes nationwide and offers this data in these easy to read reports.
About BuildFax (www.buildfax.com):
BuildFax™, a division of BUILDERadius, is the creator of the first and only national database of historical building permit data. Co-headquartered in Austin, Texas and Asheville, North Carolina, BuildFax™ has created a proprietary property intelligence engine that contains building and permitting information from 4,000+ cities and counties throughout the country. Local building departments in each of these towns across the country inspect construction to make sure it meets quality and safety standards; as such it is an absolutely critical part of the public safety infrastructure. BuildFax™ is then able to consolidate this information into the dataset, which is a tremendous asset to professionals in the insurance, financial services, inspection, and appraisal industries, as well as buyers and sellers of property. As the best and only source of a structure’s “life story,” the BuildFax™ database continues to grow, currently covering over 72 million residential and commercial properties in the United States, with over 6 billion data points.