The active hurricane season helped drive spending on home improvement products to a new record high estimate of $271.4 billion in 2004, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI). This represents a 13% increase over 2003. HIRI predicted the pace of growth will slow over the next five years.
The lumber and building materials category showed the largest percentage increase in spending last year, up almost 19% from 2003. HIRI estimated that hurricane repairs to residential structures will amount to $2.5 billion in product spending for 2004 and $1.5 billion in 2005.