The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, June 17, edition that a November, 2024, report by CIBC found nearly half of Canadians are in the process of planning, executing or completing home improvements. The Globe's Emily Latimer writes that in that survey, homeowners reported an average expected renovation cost of $19,000 -- nearly double the spend compared with 2019. Canadian Home Builders' Association director Sarah Caron notes that the renovation market is a bigger contributor to the Canadian economy than new home building. She says: "The increase is slowing, but prices to renovate have increased significantly since the pandemic. There's still a really healthy renovation market." Lately, renovation price growth appears to be slowing across the country due to tariff-related economic uncertainties. Altus Group's Peter Norman says, "Consumers seem to be demonstrating a little bit more caution on spend." In the renovation sector, firms look at major drivers for growth, including consumer confidence (currently compromised) and interest rates (currently softening). Mr. Norman says Canada's renovation market is "way more important than new construction in terms of total volume of investments and dollars spent."