The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a greater demand on Canadian homes – essentially forcing them to act as offices, schools and safe havens. The increased time at home has shone a light on shortcomings and motivated some Canadians to adapt their homes to better fit these new lifestyles. Stay-at-home directives have reduced a significant barrier to DIY project completion by giving many Canadians more free time, though economic barriers will persist for a portion of the population. Since the majority of Canadians involved in the home improvement market claim to take pride in completing a home project themselves, many are eager to learn new skills and tackle new projects.

• The impact of COVID-19 on the home improvement market

• How an economic slowdown will impact the home improvement market

• Market factors impacting the home improvement market

• Consumer behaviours and attitudes relating to the home improvement market

For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

Home improvement projects that adults have completed/purchased/installed themselves, as well as projects installed by professionals. Home improvement projects include repairs or maintenance to the home, including indoor projects such as renovating a kitchen, installing a new bathroom or installing smart technology, as well as outdoor projects like roofing updates and deck repairs. Decorating includes activities such as internal and external painting, as well as smaller décor-related projects like rehabbing furniture or updating window treatments.

For the purposes of this Report, recent home improvement projects reference projects completed within the past three years (leading up to September 2020), while ‘planned projects’ refers to home improvements expected to be completed within a year (between September 2020 and September 2021).

This Report was written in November–December, 2020. Consumer research was conducted in September 2020 and reflects consumer attitudes during the pandemic period.

At the time of writing, the number of confirmed cases in Canada had reached 468,862 as of December 14, 2020.

The subsequent analysis is driven by our analysts’ understanding of consumer behaviour in this market, alongside an evaluation of how exposed this sector is to the crisis, and how quickly demand will return to previous levels once a degree of normality returns to the market. Our economic assumptions are based on the updated global forecasts released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June 2020. The IMF expects Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) to fall by 8.4% in 2020, recovering by 4.9% in 2021. Its April forecast predicted unemployment to rise sharply in Q2 2020, before recovering slightly to 7.5% by the end of the year, and to 7.2% by the end of 2021.