Renovation Spending Could Hit All-time High

For homeowners who dream of new kitchens with marble counters, heated three-car garages and mudrooms with dog showers: there’s a renovation boom heading our way but it is going to run smack into a shortage of qualified labor.

According to a story by Kathleen Howley Forbes.com, Americans are sitting on a record $5.4 trillion of tappable equity, according to a report by Black Knight Inc. that measures the amount banks would lend against the unmortgaged portion of U.S. homes. Credit standards continue to loosen, and banks are eager to make up for a slump in refinancing by boosting originations of home equity lines of credit, or Helocs. Americans typically use those so-called junior, or second-lien, mortgages to improve their homes. Read the full article here.