Home Improvement

Of all categories of replacements, only roofing failed to place in the top 10 most cost-effective projects, with midrange jobs recouping 73.9% of their cost at resale and upscale jobs 72.9%.

At the other end of the scale, uncertainty in the housing market has made major additions, such as rooms and decks, more costly in all but the hottest regional markets in the Southeast and Pacific states, where projects are relatively more profitable than for the nation at large.

(The Remodeling study evaluated construction costs against resale values for 25 typical projects in the nine regional subsets used by the U.S. Census.)

Phil Peach, President & CEO of the Oregon Remodelers Association, says "urban growth boundaries and trends toward higher density housings" have kept remodeling investments returning a healthy profit in the Pacific Northwest.

Nationwide, a deck recouped 76.8% of its cost last year, down from 90.3% in 2005.

Peach says even homeowners in the Northwest need to consider renovations that have broad appeal if resale value is the primary concern. If resale is a secondary consideration or a sale is not in the foreseeable future, the homeowner "should be sure any renovations represent an improvement that is important to his personal lifestyle," he says.

Lowest returns in 2006 came from home office remodeling (63.4%) and adding a sun room (66.3%), rooms that tend to cater to individual preferences.