New Survey Says Millennials Love Remodeling, Too

As a millennial who just renovated a condo, today's news really resonates with me.

According to a new survey from home design website Houzz, more than half of all site members renovated their homes in 2014, and millennials were just as likely to do so as older homeowners. The 2015 Houzz & Home Survey polled more than 170,000 respondents in the U.S. and more than a quarter million globally.

Why are millennials jumping on the remodeling bandwagon, you ask?

According to the survey results, the most common reason is to make newly purchased homes feel more personal. The least important considerations for remodelers? Just 32% of renovators considered green or sustainable materials "very" or "extremely" important, while a mere 25% classified smart technology as a prime motivator.

{{amazon name="The Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling, 3rd Edition", asin="1600852467", align="right"}} Across all demographics, renovation activities outstripped repairs, and respondents were far more likely to remodel an existing home than to sell or purchase a new home.

Challenges associated with renovating vary dramatically by age. For millennials, the top challenges were—surprise, surprise!—financial. Nearly 40% of renovating millennials had trouble staying on budget and/or funding or financing their project. It was a different story for Boomers: They had the most trouble finding the right service providers to perform the work, and sourcing the right products.

Among 60+ households, more than half of respondents plan to "age in place," and a significant percentage of them modified interiors with this in mind. But while aging is a concern, relatively few remodelers across the board seem to care about health issues related to their renovations. Just 40% rate health as very-to-extremely important, and 20% say it's not important at all.

The full results of this year's Houzz & Home Survey are available here.

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