A man and woman remodel a room in their house.
© Westend61 - Westend61 / Getty Images

With growing competition in housing, more homeowners say they want to stay put. Seventy-two percent of homeowners say they’d rather make home improvements than sell their house, according to a new survey of 1,000 homeowners conducted by LendingTree.

Many homeowners plan to get to work soon on home improvement projects, too. Forty-eight percent of respondents said they plan to renovate or upgrade their home this spring or summer; 34% also are considering it. Their top home improvement projects: Interior painting (47%), upgrading exterior landscaping (30%), and renovating or upgrading a bathroom (27%).

A bar chart showing the projects homeowners plan to take on this year.

Homeowners’ top motivations for upgrading their homes are to enjoy them more (62% of respondents), followed by the desire to increase their home’s value (37%), the survey shows.

But with escalating costs, many homeowners are taking a DIY approach to save or trim their budgets in other ways. Among homeowners who say they have projects to do this spring or summer, 50% hope to spend less than $10,000.

Nearly two-thirds of homeowners surveyed say that inflation and building material shortages have prompted them to put off some renovations or home updates. Thirty-six percent of respondents said that rising costs have delayed their home improvement plans.

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