How Wealthy Americans Drive the Home Improvement Market

According to an article at MultiBriefs.com, a branded email publication service, not only has the home improvement market been strong for the past two years, it’s expected to remain that way through this year, with affluent homeowners driving the growth in sales. While it may seem obvious that rich folks spend more than average folks, looking at the numbers can make one stagger a bit.

Although home ownership is at an all-time low in the US, recent reports of consumer spending in 2016 indicate that, on average, affluent households spent more on home improvement last year than in previous years. Larger expenditures have become more concentrated among the wealthiest households, generally spending more of their discretionary income on home improvement than all other categories, except vehicles.

Defining Affluence in Your Marketplace

Of course, every marketer would like to target those with the most discretionary income to spend on their products or services, hoping to create a nice bump in sales. Based on the latest data, however, this becomes even more important for interior decorators who are trying to grow their business.

So, let’s look at a few of the numbers for wealthy homeowners in the home improvement market:

• Among homeowners worth $25 million or more, nearly 50% spent at least $25,000 on home improvement in 2016.
• Among homeowners worth $25 million or more, over 25% spent at least $50,000 on home improvement in 2016.
• Among those who owned two homes worth $2 million each, recently averaged over $500,000 on home improvement.

It goes without saying that all designers would like to grab a piece of these markets and, while that can be difficult, building your rep among the rich and super-rich could have benefits you may not have imagined. While the average designer should not market exclusively to these folks, devoting at least a portion of your marketing budget to them makes sense, based on the potential return.

For emerging designers, or those in smaller markets, there is also good news, in that “affluence” and “wealth” can translate into a much more accessible client base. From the article:

“Recent marketing data indicates there are about 31 million affluent households, most with incomes between $100,000 and $149,000 annually. That works out roughly to 500 households for every residential interior designer, which seem like pretty good odds for future business.”

Do your market research and discover who and where these folks live in your area. Then, find ways to let them help you drive the home improvement market in your area, by working with you.

Looking for more new design trends, tips, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.