Home Repair during the Recession

Image via Wikipedia
The results of last year's poll on home repair are in and the results are quite clear. Most homeowners stated that they were going to spend less on home repair (80%) than before. Others said that they were planning to spend just about the same on fixing up their homes.

The outlook for the current year isn't much better. Incomes haven't grown, in fact, according to some economists, real income has been falling for quite some time now as the cost of health insurance continues to take a bigger chunk out of most non-government employees. Many homeowners that still have jobs are faced with trying to figure out how to afford making home repairs or renovations when the health insurance deduction from the paycheck just went up?

In terms of choosing to make home repairs during the recession, it seems far more likely that homeowners will choose to pay for health insurance than making a renovation or nice-to-have repair. The results of making these types of decision are reflected in the profits of major home suppliers like Home Depot and Lowes. Keep an eye on their profit and loss reports if you want to know what the real condition of the home repair market. The latest news for Home Depot is about cutting jobs, and at lease one Lowe's store is having problems making its payments. 2010 doesn't look pretty for either the suppliers or homeowners.