Abbe Will

Background

About Abbe Will

Senior research and data analyst specializing in the home remodeling industry. Abbe Will is a Senior Research Associate and Associate Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS). Abbe has over 15 years of experience conducting economic and demographic research and statistical analysis of the US home improvement and repair industry. She manages and contributes research to the Center’s Improving America’s Housing report series and administers the quarterly Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA), a short-term projection of national home improvement and repair spending. Abbe’s areas of research within the residential remodeling sector focus on market size and composition; industry structure such as contractor performance, firm dynamics, specialization, and concentration trends; changing household demographics; remodeling market cycles; and emerging market trends including accessibility modifications, energy-efficiency retrofits, and healthy housing. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Home Improvement Research Institute. Abbe’s home improvement research has been featured by Bloomberg, The Boston Globe, CNBC, Marketplace, MarketWatch, The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and Yahoo Finance. Prior to joining JCHS in 2006, Abbe served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA with Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod and Massachusetts Campus Compact. Abbe holds an M.A. in applied economic policy analysis from Northeastern University, and a B.A. in economics from Kalamazoo College.