The wellbeing implications of household home repair and renovation expenditure

Abstract Home repair, maintenance and renovation expenditures continue to grow relative to the costs of new construction. However, while an established literature has examined the impact of homeownership on wellbeing, we know virtually nothing on how expenditures on home repairs and renovation impact on wellbeing. We examine the impact of home repair, maintenance and renovation expenditure on the subjective wellbeing of homeowners in Australia. Apply regression analysis that control for relevant confounders on 16 years of data from the Household, income and labour dynamics in Australia (HILDA) covering the period 2005–2020, we find that an increase in the share of household income spent on house improvement is associated with an increase in life satisfaction. Exploring the pathways of influence, the findings demonstrate that household income spent on home repairs, maintenance and renovation is associated with an increase in home satisfaction, which is an important factor that contributes to subjective wellbeing. Our findings also reveal a threshold beyond which additional expenditures result in a decline in wellbeing.