2025Q4 Houzz Renovation Barometer - Architectural & Design Sector
Findings from the Q4 2025 Houzz Renovation Barometer, which tracks residential renovation market expectations, project backlogs and recent activity among businesses in the architectural and design services sector.
The Project Backlog Indicator is 5.5 weeks nationally at the start of Q4 2025: The overall backlog for the architectural and design services sector is shorter than the wait times reported a year ago (down 0.8 weeks). Architects report a decrease of 2 weeks in wait times to 5.8 weeks, while interior designers report an increase of 1 week in wait times to 4.9 weeks.
Backlogs vary across all regional divisions among businesses in the architectural and design services sector. Businesses in the Pacific division (including Alaska, California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii) reported backlogs of 4.3 weeks, while backlogs in the East North Central (including Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio) are 6.6 weeks.
The Recent Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects decreased to 43 in Q3 (compared with 45 in Q2): This decrease is attributed to a decline in both project inquiries and new committed projects (down 3 and 2 points to 43 and 42 points, respectively). The indicator is down by 6 points for architects relative to Q2, reaching 39 points. Conversely, the indicator is up 3 points for interior designers relative to Q2, reaching 48 points in Q3. The overall indicator is below the 50-point line, because more businesses reported a decline in business activity than those reporting improvements compared to the quarter before.
The Q4 2025 U.S. Houzz Renovation Barometer was fielded from September 18th through October 6th, 2025 and garnered responses from 192 architects and 408 interior designers on Houzz (n=600 in the architectural and design services sector).
Download the report and see sub-sector data
See Related Stories:
Download the report and see sub-sector data
See Related Stories:
The Expected Business Activity Indicator related to project inquiries and new committed projects inched up to 59 for Q4 (compared with 58 in Q3): This is driven by a 2-point increase in new committed projects (from 58 in Q3 to 60 in Q4). Project inquiries stayed stable at 58 points. Expectations for business activity in Q4 inched up among both architects and interior designers, compared to the previous quarter. This increase comes after three consecutive quarters of decline in the expected business activity indicators, yet remains below the historic average for the subsector. Among the two reporting groups, expected business activity indicators now stand at 58 for architects and at 61 for interior designers, which is an increase of 1 and 2 points, respectively, compared to Q3. A score above 50 suggests that more businesses in both groups anticipate improved business activity in Q4 compared with Q3.