➤ Key Highlights
Lowe’s is betting next year will bring a renovation boom as rate-fatigued homeowners stay put and spend instead of trading up.
The company’s stock jumped nearly 6 percent after CEO Marvin Ellison sketched out an optimistic outlook for remodels next year.
Ellison told Yahoo Finance that Americans are sitting on “significant equity” yet remain blocked from buying thanks to mortgage rates.
Active listings jumped 15.3 percent year over year in October and rates hit 12-month lows.
Homes are taking longer to sell — 63 days on average, the 19th straight month of slowdown.
Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies supports that narrative.
Its latest LIRA forecast shows homeowner renovation and repair spending staying stable into mid-2026 with growth of 2.4 percent early in the year and 1.9 percent by the third quarter.
Lowe’s projects a surge in renovation activity for 2026 as homeowners choose to invest in current properties instead of moving amid high mortgage rates. External forecasts and supporting data indicate stable or rising renovation spending into mid-2026. Recent executive outlooks and market data reflect increased sector optimism.
Through the lens of evolving demand patterns influenced by institutional outlooks, this event illustrates how sector confidence is aligning with changing household investment behaviors. Institutional projections and leadership perspectives help set expectations for future consumer decisions regarding home upgrades. The intersection of these outlooks with shifting homeowner priorities underscores the role large organizations play in shaping and responding to demand trends. This dynamic informs how resources may be allocated within the household improvement sector.
⚠️ Why it matters now
For CRE360’s audience, understanding how institutional confidence and evolving demand patterns inform household investment is crucial for decision making in development, capital deployment, construction, and underwriting. As major organizations adjust their outlooks and resource planning, the broader CRE ecosystem must anticipate and respond to these shifts. This alignment has implications for supply chain management, service offerings, and project feasibility.
➤ TAKEAWAY
Data suggests to track institutional forecasts and consumer behavior data to assess the durability of renovation demand. Future resource allocation and planning decisions may be guided by ongoing sector optimism and household investment patterns. The interaction between institutional outlooks and evolving consumer priorities will remain a focal point as the residential upgrade market develops into 2026.
