Yelp, the social media site that was started to help you find the best local Chinese takeout, but now covers a very wide range of interests, such as home improvement, has released a comprehensive report of the latest trends in site user interest. In a report titled 2025 Summer Home & Outdoor Trends, Yelp noted a recent surge in user interest in a wide variety of home remodeling projects, including a huge leap in those making project requests for “home theater installation,” up 562% as compared to 2024.
See more on the surprising Yelp trend data for 2025…
With 76 million unique monthly users and over 300 million cumulative posted reviews, Yelp is one of the largest and most successful review sites on the internet. Although initially noted for its restaurant reviews, the site covers a wide range of categories now, including very active content engagement on home improvement. Users have two ways to seek information on topics in which they are interested: Search and “Start a Project.”
Search, as you might imagine, is a typical search bar in which the user enters a query – say, “home theater installation” and the search engine will return a list of local installers with their overall Yelp rating and contact information. Start a Project starts a process where you answer a few questions and the site pairs you with a select group of installers who you can speak with to get a specific quote.
Yelp’s 2025 Summer Home & Outdoor Trends Report
The data for the 2025 Summer Home & Outdoor Trends report was compiled from both processes. At the beginning of the report, Yelp noted: “As budgets tighten due to challenging housing and rental markets, rising material costs, and potential tariff impacts, Americans are choosing to improve rather than move.” It seems pretty obvious that they were seeking to help explain some of the surprising data they were about to present. To make sure the reader got the message, the next line explicitly hits you with it…
In fact, Yelp data reveals a significant surge in home improvement project requests in 2024 compared to 2023, including requests for gardeners (up 376%), painters (up 89%), and interior designers (up 81%). Despite economic uncertainty, these numbers confirm one thing: investing in your space is always in style.
Yelp report: 2025 Summer Home & Outdoor Trends [Emphasis in original]
Several Overarching Consumer Trends Revealed
The report identifies several overarching trends, such as
- Character comeback – Upgrading home finishes with carpet removal (+29%), hardwood floor refinishing (+107%), adding stained glass (+50%), mosaic tile (+52%), and more
- Sleep sanctuaries – Improving bedrooms for better sleep with, for example, soundproofing services (+137%), blackout curtains (+219%), and air purifiers (+325%). Bedroom remodeling projects “have skyrocketed 1,108% in the past year.” Yelp says.
But the trend I was most interested in was “In-home experience spaces.” In this section, Yelp reported that searches for basement remodels increased this year by 155%, as consumers are interested in using these “underutilized spaces” as “hosting havens.”
What Are Consumers Having Built in Their Basements?
What are consumers going to have built there? We get a clue from certain search terms. For example, searches for pool tables for sale grew by 120% in the first quarter of this year. More interestingly, searches for sound system installations jumped by +89% as did related searches such as listening rooms.
Perhaps the real surprise was the fact that users placing the more serious “project requests”” for home theater installation blasted off by 562%!!
The Devil is in the Data
So these numbers are surprising, considering the time period that this data was pulled from. Yelp looked at the period of January-March 2025 and compared that to the same period in 2024. You may remember that during this period, there was a lot of consumer angst, as the Trump Administration was talking a lot about launching a trade war by issuing aggressive tariff increases. Consumer confidence was waning as many were concerned that inflation would reignite and the economy would slow down.
Yelp suggests that consumers made a decision to pull back by abandoning the idea of taking fancy vacations, eating out at high-end restaurants, going out to see the latest movies, or buying upgraded new homes, and instead chose to invest in upgrading their existing homes. Perhaps, or maybe there were other factors at play.
Report Caused Quite a Stir in the Business Press
This Yelp report caused quite a stir in the business press.
Axios, in reporting on the Yelp study, noted that “Theater chains have struggled to rebound from the pandemic, despite investing in new projectors, seats, bars, and more.” Industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter noted in a story that actor and show runner Danny McBride told it that most suburban megaplexes “feel like relics of a bygone era.”
The Axios report also noted that another website, Houzz, reported a double-digit percentage uptick in searches for “Lego rooms, billiard rooms, and video game rooms” as compared to last year. This fact tends to corroborate that the trends showing up on Yelp’s radar screen are a real thing.
Were Consumers Getting Ahead of Tariffs?
Some business experts suggested that the reason this report showed such a dramatic increase in consumer interest in home theaters and other home categories is that they sought to beat the impact of the impending tariffs. This explanation also makes sense. Other countries, such as China, reported the same phenomenon – a buy-in to beat the tariff price increases. If that is the case, then the consumer interest as defined in the Yelp report may just be temporary.
Time will tell whether these trends will hold. As tariff programs get settled and they begin to take their bite out of the economy, it is quite possible we’ll see an economic slowdown causing a drop off in consumer interest in home theaters and more.
For More Information…
See more trends in the Yelp research by following this link….
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