JERSEY CITY, September 10 — The cost of fixing up a home climbed at its fastest pace in two years this spring, and the reason reaches far beyond the lumber yard. Prices for materials and labor tied to home repair and remodeling jumped nearly 1% from April through June, according to a Verisk Analytics report released Wednesday. That is a sharp acceleration from the 0.47% quarterly growth recorded at the end of 2025 and the revised 0.69% growth over the first three months of 2026.
At its heart, the story begins with the conflict in Iran. Verisk’s report points directly to the war and the resulting rise in oil prices, energy costs, inflation and interest rates as the forces accounting for much of the movement.
A supply chain tangled by war
The company’s index tracks more than 10,000 line items across 31 repair and remodeling categories, from appliances to windows to partial roof replacements. Verisk flagged 2.88% growth in the index from a year ago. Greg Pyne, vice president of pricing for Verisk Property Estimating Solutions, explained the mechanism in Wednesday’s index update.
“Verisk data shows that higher oil prices have a direct impact on a number of building products like asphalt roofing and PVC pipe, and on transportation costs due to increases in diesel and jet fuel,” Pyne said. Even so, repair and remodeling costs have lagged broader inflation.
The consumer price index rose 3.8% in April, 4.2% in May and 3.5% in June. Verisk had foreshadowed these increases in its first-quarter report, warning that repair and remodeling projects are not immune to global energy and trade shocks. Those impacts ultimately emerged in the second-quarter data.
Where costs rose fastest
Every one of the nine U.S. census regions posted faster quarterly increases, with the largest gains across East North Central and East South Central states, which both exceeded 1.15%. Twenty-one states saw quarterly increases above 1%, with the biggest jumps in Arkansas, Kentucky and Wisconsin. The pain is likely to land hardest on fix-and-flip investors, a segment already squeezed by high acquisition and holding costs, softening after-repair values and sluggish resale demand worsened by steadily rising mortgage rates.
During the second quarter, 5% more flippers missed their ARV target than the share who exceeded it. That marks the fourth time in the past five quarters that more flippers have missed than exceeded their target, according to survey findings published in early August by investor-lender Kiavi and housing advisory John Burns Research and Consulting.
What to watch
More increases may be coming. Manufacturing lags and expectations that damaged infrastructure limiting oil production and refining capacity across the Middle East could take months to get back online — even if the war were to end soon — point to continued pressure. Few obvious signs suggest an imminent resolution.
The conflict is now in its seventh month, and tit-for-tat airstrikes between the U.S. and Iran pushed global crude oil prices above $100 per barrel again this week. For homeowners and the investors betting on them, the next quarterly reading will show whether the spring spike was a peak or just another step upward.
