The low level of dwelling turnover may help to explain some of the weakness in the level of renovation activity. This is because when people are selling their dwelling, or have bought a dwelling, they often undertake work of this sort. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  and look at developments over a longer period.
The thing that really stands out over the past few years is that, despite the recent pick-up, dwelling investment as a share of the economy remains close to the troughs of over a decade ago (Graph 9). This relatively low level of dwelling construction raises the question of whether demand has been particularly weak or whether supply issues have constrained construction activity.