As home equity values on houses with mortgages have doubled from 2011 to 2017, so too has the volume of home equity lines of credit and cash-out refinance originations. Such were the findings of a report prepared by Houzz in collaboration with Bank of America.

The good news in all that for the landscape industry is that home improvements are the top use of these forms of financing. The report uncovered that one in seven of surveyed homeowners paid for renovations in 2017 with secured financing, and the median amount of money spent was $32,000 compared to the median cash-only renovation amount of $13,000.

The reliance on secured financing was even greater for larger projects as homeowners spending $50,000 or more on renovations were three times more likely to use this form of funding than those spending $5,000 to $14,999.