Home improvement
Home improvementYoni Kempinski

As homes continue to fetch a high price in Israel, many homeowners who were thinking of “buying up” – selling their current homes for a bigger or better place – find themselves unable to afford a “next level” home. Instead, they are fixing up their current homes, a spokesperson for the Israel Home Improvement Association said Sunday.

A total of about 250,000 Israeli households engage in a home improvement project each year, the Association said, with the average project costing NIS 55,000 (about $15,000).

The most common home improvement project is a paint job – which 55% of homeowners who engaged in a project carried out. Twenty-eight percent committed to a bathroom improvement project, while 17% fixed up their kitchens.

A “bathroom job” costs on average NIS 30,000, the Association said – NIS 14,000 for the labor, and NIS 16,000 for materials. 30% invested more than that average sum, while 20% spent less. The average cost for fixing up a kitchen is NIS 55,000, but a significant number spent more than that, the group said, with some spending NIS 250,000 and more.

According to the Association, although more people are fixing up their homes, the sums being spent nowadays on home improvement were somewhat lower than they had been in previous years. The reason – a slowing economy, the group said.