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Grant and Angela Morris appreciated the spacious size of their 260-square-foot primary bathroom. Too bad it was overcrowded with bulky elements and dated materials. Angela, a jewelry designer, wanted more efficiency and style. Grant wanted a sauna and other spa-like features for wellness benefits. To achieve their goals, they turned to designer Tara Lenney, who had worked with the couple to update other spaces in their home.
Moving a closet doorway freed up wall space for a new custom white oak double vanity that provides storage and visual warmth. Eliminating a former single-sink vanity made room for a handcrafted infrared sauna. A freestanding cold-plunge tub replaced the overwhelming built-in tub. The shower has a steam function. And pops of blue tile, paint and other details deliver a soothing style to this rejuvenating space.
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7. Smart Product Features Highly Sought
Renovating homeowners invested in products with both standard and smart technology in 2024, and in fact preferred smart tech in several product categories. The dark green bars in this graphic represent standard products. The light green shows smart products, which refers to technology that can be monitored or controlled from a mobile device (smartphone or tablet), a computer or both.
Light fixtures topped the list of indoor product purchases at 51%, with 38% of renovating homeowners choosing standard and 13% opting for smart versions. TVs followed at 27%, with 16% choosing standard TVs and 11% opting for smart.
Alarms and detectors (14% standard, 12% smart) and thermostats (7% standard, 16% smart) also were in demand. Smart versions led for wireless doorbell cameras (16%), streaming-media players (10%), home assistants (14%) and garage door openers (8%) as well. And among smart security products, homeowners chose wireless door locks (8%), cameras (9%) and motion or other sensors (5%).
Smart security cameras led outdoor tech purchases at 23%, followed by standard outdoor lighting fixtures at 23% (not shown).
10 Ways to Control the Cost of Your Bathroom Remodel
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Existing home sales declined in March, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), as affordability challenges continued to weigh on the market. For the first time, the median home price surpassed $400,000 for the month of March, underscoring the ongoing pressure on prospective buyers. While mortgage rates have eased slightly, persistent economic uncertainty may continue to limit buyer activity in the near term.
While existing home inventory improves and the Fed continues lowering rates, the market faces headwinds as mortgage rates are expected to stay above 6% for longer due to an anticipated slower easing pace in 2025. These prolonged rates may continue to discourage homeowners from trading existing mortgages for new ones with higher rates, keeping supply tight and prices elevated. As such, sales are likely to remain limited in the coming months due to elevated mortgage rates and home prices.
Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, declined 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million in March. On a year-over-year basis, sales were 2.4% lower than a year ago.
The share of first-time buyers rose to 32% in March, up from 31% in February and unchanged from March 2024.
The existing home inventory level was 1.33 million units in March, up 8.1% from February and 19.8% from a year ago. At the current sales rate, March unsold inventory sits at a 4.0-months’ supply, up from 3.5 months in February and 3.2 months in March 2024. This inventory level remains low compared to balanced market conditions (4.5 to 6 months’ supply) and illustrates the long-run need for more home construction.
Homes stayed on the market for an average of 36 days in March, down from 42 days in February but up from 33 days in March 2024.
The March all-cash sales share was 26% of transactions, down from 32% in February and 28% a year ago.
The March median sales price of all existing homes was $403,700, up 2.7% from last year. This marked the 21st consecutive month of year-over-year increases. The median condominium/co-op price in March was up 1.5% from a year ago at $363,000. This rate of price growth will slow as inventory increases.
In March, existing home sales declined across all four major U.S. regions. The West experienced the steepest drop, with sales falling 9.4%, followed by the South (-5.7%), the Midwest (-5.0%), and the Northeast (-2.0%). On a year-over-year basis, sales rose slightly in the West by 1.3%, declined in the South and Midwest by 4.2% and 3.1% respectively, and remained unchanged in the Northeast.
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) is a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts. The PHSI fell from 70.6 to an all-time low of 67.3 in February. This decline suggests elevated home prices and higher mortgage rates continue to constrain affordability. On a year-over-year basis, pending sales were 9.9% lower than a year ago, per National Association of Realtors data.
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A modest decline in mortgage rates and lean existing inventory helped boost new home sales in March even as builders and consumers contend with uncertain market conditions.
Sales of newly built, single-family homes in March increased 7.4% to a 724,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a revised January number, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales in March was up 6.0% compared to a year earlier.
The March new home sales data shows that demand continues to be present in the market, provided affordability conditions permit a purchase. An increase in economic certainty would be a big boost to future sales conditions. Lower mortgage interest rates helped boost the pace of new home sales in March. In February, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 6.84%, while in March it fell to 6.65%.
A new home sale occurs when a sales contract is signed, or a deposit is accepted. The home can be in any stage of construction: not yet started, under construction or completed. In addition to adjusting for seasonal effects, the March reading of 724,000 units is the number of homes that would sell if this pace continued for the next 12 months.
New single-family home inventory in March continued to rise to a level of 503,000, up 7.9% compared to a year earlier. This represents an 8.3 months’ supply at the current building pace. This level of supply continues to be reasonable given that the resale, single-family months’ supply remains lean at just 3.4. The count of completed, ready-to-occupy homes available for sale increased to 119,000, up 34% from a year ago.
However, the March data also is showing signs that the total amount of inventory in the new construction space has slowed given soft housing conditions at the start of 2025. For example, the count of new homes available for sale that are under construction (263,000 in March) is down 5% year-over-year and 6% lower than the non-seasonally adjusted peak count set in October 2024.
The median new home sale price in March was $403,600, down 7.5% from a year ago. Sales were particularly strong at lower price levels. Compared to March 2024, new homes sales were 33% higher for homes priced below $300,000 and 28% higher for new homes priced between $300,000 and $400,000.
Regionally, on a year-to-date basis, new home sales are up 12.9% in the South, but are down 32% in the Northeast, 18.3% in the Midwest and 6% in the West.
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This graph shows a generational breakdown of renovation spend by homeowners in 2024. The darker green bars represent a similar overall median spend among seniors ($22,000), baby boomers ($20,000) and Gen Xers ($20,000). Millennials were at the low end with a median spend of $15,000.
The lighter green bars show how in the 90th percentile of spend, Gen X renovators led the pack, allocating up to $150,000 for projects. The other groups had spends between $120,000 and $125,000.
For kitchen remodels specifically, millennials’ median spend increased from $15,000 in 2023 to $20,000 in 2024. Gen Xers saw a 12% drop in median spend, from $25,000 in 2023 to $22,000 in 2024, while baby boomers spent slightly less year over year, dropping from $24,000 in 2023 to $23,000 in 2024. Seniors also scaled back: Their median kitchen remodel spend dropped from $19,000 to $15,000.
Bathroom remodels present a mixed picture. The median spend for seniors nearly doubled, from $8,500 in 2023 to $15,300 in 2024, while the median spend for millennials declined sharply, from $12,000 to $7,500. The median spend for Gen Xers decreased from $15,000 in 2023 to $13,000 in 2024, while baby boomers remained steady year over year at $15,000.
Your Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
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The phrase “worth the wait” is probably an understatement when it comes to this gorgeous English home, as the owners did have to exercise quite a bit of patience. Pandemic restrictions meant renovations to the tired 1920s property spanned two years and the work had to be divided into three phases.
“The owners saw the house in early 2020,” designer Natalie McHugh of N&K Interiors says. “They were keen to get going on extending it for their family and found us on Houzz when they searched local design and build companies, but COVID delayed everything.”
In September 2020, the team tackled a bathroom and four bedrooms, one of which was turned into a playroom, as well as changing all the windows and got the family in for Christmas. In January, they started the two-story side addition — laundry room, mudroom, powder room, living room and bedroom suite. The remaining work was completed in 2022, resulting in a home that’s both highly functional and full of warmth and character.
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7. Outdoor Lighting
A well-planned outdoor lighting scheme is an investment worth making. It creates a magical atmosphere at night, increases home safety and allows you and your guests to enjoy the evening air.
Projects include strategic lighting upgrades, such as front path and step lighting that makes it easier to navigate safely to the front door; landscape spotlights to highlight special features, such as a beautiful tree or sculpture; wall or ceiling lighting to illuminate an outdoor dining area; and front porch lights to create a welcoming entrance.
Pros Field Your Questions About Outdoor Lighting
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Tackle These To-Dos Over a Weekend
Wash windows. Clean the grime off glass inside and out for a lighter, brighter home indoors and increased curb appeal outdoors. Wash the exterior windows yourself by using a hose attachment, or hire a pro to get the job done.
Clean gutters and downspouts. After the last frost has passed, it’s important to have your gutters and downspouts cleaned and repaired. “Clogged gutters and downspouts can cause the wood trim at the eaves to rot, and that can invite all kinds of critters into your attic space,” Sedinger says.
Having your gutters and downspouts cleaned early in the season can also help prevent damage from spring rains. “Gutters and downspouts should be clean and running free,” Sedinger says. “If your downspouts are installed properly, water is diverted away from the house so that no water collects around your foundation.”
How to Clean Your Gutters and Downspouts
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The quarterly U.S. Houzz Renovation Barometer asks more than 1,000 construction and architecture and design firms on Houzz about their expected, current and recent business activity. The just-released Q2 2025 Barometer, fielded March 14-28, was expanded to include questions about how professionals expect market shifts, such as tariffs and interest rates, to impact their business and the industry as a whole.
The report found that firms across the industry expect these shifts to negatively impact their business. Additionally, many are adjusting procurement strategies and selectively stockpiling materials in anticipation of tariff-driven price hikes, especially on lumber, steel and cabinetry.
Here are more insights into construction and design businesses’ outlooks and strategies in the face of changing economic conditions.
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8. Clean items on open shelves. Infrequently used items stored on open shelves can get pretty grimy over time. For items with a thin layer of dust, swipe with an electrostatic duster. If there is a thicker layer of dust, of if the items are in the kitchen (where cooking grease can be an issue), wash each piece in a tub of warm, soapy water. Rinse and allow everything to dry before replacing.
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