Renovation Market Index

CHBA’s Renovation Market Index (RMI) is an informative research and economics product that provides a much-needed leading indicator about the current and future health of Canada’s residential renovation industry. The RMI is a sentiment indicator, assessing current level of demand, pace of inquiries, and length of project backlog to provide data about the industry’s current and future outlook.

Launched in late 2025, the RMI will directly inform federal policy makers and media about the renovation industry. The RMI is modelled after CHBA’s Housing Market Index and NAHB’s existing Remodeling Market Index in the U.S.

By asking those who do residential renovations to indicate their level of demand, pace of inquiries, and the length of their backlog, CHBA will produce a number (between 0 and 100) that summarizes overall renovator sentiment as either optimistic or pessimistic. Using a score of 50 to represent a neutral score, RMI values further below 50 indicate greater near-term contractions in renovation activity, and the scores reaching higher than 50 indicate a quicker growth rate in activity. With sufficient participation, survey results may be provided by region or province – similar to what is reported for CHBA’s Housing Market Index (HMI).

The RMI also asks topical questions to gauge the breadth of impact of various renovation industry issues and effectiveness of new and potential federal policy changes. The results will help ensure that CHBA advocacy efforts at the national level are well positioned to address the concerns and pain points of its renovator members nationwide.