Home Repair Prices

Renovation rebound

For a few years, carpets have been allowed to fray, faucets to drip and paint to peel. Now, home-improvement spending may be rebounding. Harvard University's Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity suggests spending will be up 16.6% by the middle of 2013.

To see what projects homeowners are likely to pursue and what they'll spend, Bloomberg.com used survey data from Houzz, a home-improvement website and application. Estimates on potential payoffs from projects come from Remodeling Magazine, which asks appraisers and others how much hypothetical projects recoup their cost in the form of increased home value. Projects are ranked from most to least expensive.

Cost estimates and most other data come from a survey of 29,000 Houzz users. We used National Association of Home Builders estimates on how long improvements should last.

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