Good morning. If you’re reading this, that means you likely have either renovated your home, thought about renovating your home, or imagined owning a home so that you could renovate it. No matter what category you’re in, we’ve got you covered with a special edition that covers everything you need to know about the current state of home remodeling. We’ll surface the most popular trends, discuss whether house flipping is still worth it, and explain why your next project might be to move to Japan to fix up a remote mountain sanctuary.

US homes are getting some snow on the roof, metaphorically speaking. The median US home is a record 44 years old, meaning that the typical house was built before the first-ever Blockbuster, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. And with new construction struggling to keep up with demand, houses are getting even older—and in need of renovation.

Reno 911: Aging homes are especially common in the Northeast. According to Redfin, in 2024, the typical home in Buffalo, New York, was built 69 years ago. When a house is decades old, not every upgrade gets your blood pumping and your Pinterest fingers scrolling. Rachel Drew, director of Harvard’s Remodeling Futures Program, told the Wall Street Journal:

• Nearly 50% of all improvement spending is now for necessary maintenance, like replacing a furnace.
• In 2023, US homeowners spent an average of $9,030 on replacement projects, like windows—up 59% from 2009, even adjusting for inflation.

Not only do older homes need maintenance more often, but the repairs themselves are also more expensive: Between 2022 and 2024, inflation-adjusted costs for structural repairs jumped about 14%, the WSJ reported, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Renovations that actually pay off

If you’re forced into a home improvement project (or you just want to spruce things up), it’s worth keeping in mind that future buyers may not share your affinity for shiplap or bumblebee-themed wallpaper. Zillow reported last year that the home improvements with the best return on investment are:

• Replacing your garage door (with a 349% ROI).
• Replacing your entry door (216% ROI).
• Adding a manufactured stone veneer (208% ROI).
• Installing fiber-cement siding (114% ROI).
• Minor kitchen remodel (113% ROI).

On the flip side, renovations like swimming pools, marble countertops, and koi ponds may actually drive some buyers away. But, it’s your home, so no judgment if you want to prioritize koi over ROI.—BC

Reality TV may have convinced you that flipping houses should be your next career. But lately, it’s been difficult to turn a profit by taking a run-down property and transforming it into someone else’s dream home.

According to the real estate data company Attom, returns on home-flipping in 2025 fell to 25.5%, the lowest level since the 2008 recession. The 297,045 single-family homes and condos flipped last year were the fewest since 2020, marking a 3.9% drop from 2024.

So why, exactly, is the couple where one sells macramé scarves on Etsy and the other bartends on weekends having trouble earning more profit on their $1.2 million home flip?

• Sky-high mortgage rates and home prices, along with a limited supply, are cutting into investors’ bottom lines, making the endeavor not worth it for many.
• Attom also said that the rising cost of supplies (some of which are tariff-related) has helped create more flops than flips.

But you’ll flip over this: Forecasters predicted an improved market in 2026, and so far they’re right—if just barely. The profit margin for home flippers in Q1 of this year was 25.4%, up slightly year over year from 24.7%, representing the first quarterly increase in two years, per Attom. The average profit in the US in early 2024 was closer to 35%.—DL

Take a break from scouring “DIY hardwood floor install” on YouTube to see how Americans are updating their homes.

Tricked out guest bathrooms: People are still wild for gorgeous kitchen counters, but in the last few years, they’ve also started wanting their visitors to have a relaxing loo, too. Last year, 25% of homeowners reported updating their guest bathrooms, just under the top project for homeowners: remodeling their kitchens (26%), according to home renovation software platform Houzz.

No more gray: To cover up all of those accent walls from 2013, everyone went 50 shades of gray on their living rooms. But now, more natural, earthy tones are back. A monochrome home feels dated, especially the all-white hospital look.

Smart features: Homeowners are putting fancy thermostats, doorbell cameras, and souped-up tech in their houses. The easiest and most economical upgrade in this category is smart lights: They’re relatively affordable, can save you money down the road, and some even sync up to music, if that’s your jam.

The open concept is dead: Long a popular feature in homes built after 1990, the open-concept floor plan is no longer desirable, especially as it pertains to kitchens. Walls and defined spaces started to come back during Covid lockdowns, when many homeowners were working from their living rooms while the rest of their families lounged nearby.

We’ve got wellness at home: In-home saunas and yoga studios are the peak of luxury. Other details, like air filtration systems and natural building materials that make inside feel like outside, are also gaining popularity among remodelers.—MM

Bad news: You were acting weird at the bar the other night. Good news: You can move to the hillsides of Tokyo. Japan has a buildup of empty homes in the countryside and suburbs that cost a few tens of thousands of dollars each—and most locals don’t want them.

Enter the expats. These vacant properties, known as akiya, are increasingly popular among Americans and other foreigners, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. The user base for AkiyaMart, a platform that helps Japan hopefuls buy akiya, ballooned from 8,000 to 60,000 over the past year, the company told the WSJ in March.

What you’re buying: Some akiya are mountainous sanctuaries with traditional wood builds, while others are regular-looking houses on regular streets, and many need renovation (think termites, caving roofs, overgrown yards, etc.). The remoteness and low value of many of these homes have made them unpopular among Japanese locals. But…

• They look like pretty good deals for people coming from Western countries, where home prices are skyrocketing.
• The yen, which is hovering around its lowest value in decades, makes the homes even more affordable for foreigners.

Zoom out: Akiya availability is a symptom of Japan’s aging population, coupled with a policy that imposes higher property taxes if inheritors tear down a house.—ML