* Home-improvement spending, which peaked at $280 billion in 2005 in tandem with the real estate market boom, is poised to increase by 3.7% annually during the next decade, according to a recent report published by the Remodeling Futures Program of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. -- D.W.
* The percentage of new foreclosure filings increased by 25% statewide in January compared with the same month last year, according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine-based company that monitors such data. -- G.P.T.
