Residential remodeling rose 11% in January from a year earlier in a seasonally adjusted measure, according to BuildFax. Projects grew to roughly 3 million on an annual basis, up 13% from 2.65 million in December. January’s measure is the highest since June 2006, according to Joe Emison, who oversees the project for BuildFax. All regions showed growth over January 2011, with only the Northeast on the decline from December. The South...

The BuildFax residential remodeling index rose to the highest level for a December since the index began in 2004 and continues to exceed levels reached during the home-equity withdrawal boom of 2004 to 2006. The index rose 22.8% to 127.4 in December from 103.7 a year earlier. The index is down 7.6% from November when it stood at 137.9. While the index rose considerably from December 2010, “remodeling activity slowed from November to...