Project Nation

Willingness to undertake a home remodeling project might depend heavily upon where you live – because where you live plays a major role in how much that remodel might cost.

The average amount spent on a remodeling project per household nationwide is $1,907, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Though, some areas blow that figure out of the water.

In the Northeast, Nantucket County, Mass., spends an average of $8,520 per remodel, the highest in the count. The top county in the West, Marin County, Calif., spends an average of $7,782 per remodel. Falls Church City, Va., averages $6,099, the highest in the South, and Cook County, Ill., at $3,466, is the highest average in the Midwest.

Nationwide, the average per-county total for remodeling expenditures is $66 million, with, again, the top areas vastly outpacing the national average. In Los Angeles County, Calif., the total remodeling expenditure is $8.4 billion, tops in the West and the nation overall. Cook County, Ill., at $4 billion, is the highest in the Midwest. In the Northeast, Nassau County, N.Y., the total is $1.9 billion, just ahead of Miami-Dade County, Fla., at $1.7 billion.

In the first quarter of 2012, the NAHB’s Remodeling Housing Index, which combines ratings of current remodeling activity with indicators of future activity, fell one point to 47 from the upwardly revised 48 in the previous quarter. An RMI below 50 indicates that more remodelers report that market activity is lower (compared to the previous quarter) than report it is higher.

According to NAHB's chief economist David Crowe, remodelers report that homeowners are showing an increased in remodeling, but they are hesitant to act due to the spotty nature of the economic recovery, which has yet to hit some of the larger markets in the country.