America's home-improvement industry gets a major boost

Washington

CORY Laws considered selling his house and moving to an updated property with his girlfriend. But he likes his neighbourhood, so he decided to spend as much as US$100,000 to remodel the Herndon, Virginia home.

"I bought the house for me and my two girls at the time, but they're adults," said Mr Laws, 61, who's already rebuilt one room and added mahogany floors to his basement to turn it into a guest apartment. "We're morphing the house into our haven."

Mr Laws is among US property owners providing a boost to the US$300 billion home-improvement industry. Spending on renovations may rise to a record this year as homeowners with low interest rates decide to stay put and remodel their existing homes, …