Conventional wisdom has it that residential remodeling tends to gain market share during downturns. Recently released data from BuildFax, for the month of April, indicates there’s more than a little truth to the postulate. 

The BuildFax Remodeling Index shows almost 10% more remodels in April 2011 than in April 2004, when BuildFax began tracking remodeling activity and the index starting point was set at 100. More significant, the index has been showing year-over-year gains for the past 18 consecutive months, BuildFax said in a press release summarizing the April data.

Year over year, the index rose 15% over April 2010, to 109.7, which is the highest April number in the index to date and, as noted by Joe Emison, the company’s vice president of research and development, “a nice surprise for the industry.”

Remodeling activity by region

In a regional breakdown of the data, the only area to post a year-over-year loss was the Midwest, which was down 16.9 points since April 2010 but up 10.7 points since March 2011, when the region posted an index reading lower than average. The West gained 16.8 points (18%) year-over-year and 5.3 points (5%) month-over-month, while the South also showed solid gains of 9.6 points (11%) year-over-year and 10 points (12%) month-over-month. The Northeast showed a 3.2-point (5%) year-over-year gain and 9.1 (14%) climb month-over-month. 

One source of comparison with the BuildFax readings is the National Association of Home Builders’ Remodeling Market Index for the first quarter 2011, which showed an increase of 12%, to 46.5 from 41.5, from the fourth quarter of 2010. An RMI reading below 50 indicates that activity has dropped since the previous quarter, however the overall number also incorporates “future remodeling activity,” a category that increased almost 18%, to 46.8 from 39.7, over the same period.

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