BEND, Ore. -- For years, Central Oregon has been the state's hottest locale for new construction, as new residents have flocked to the growing region.

But now, mirroring a national trend, the pace of new home building in Bend is off by 60 percent from 2006 figures.

Still, home remodelers in the area say they remain busy, and that 2008 might even be a record year for their industry.

And the materials they are buying, plus the crews they are hiring, may be helping to slide a floor under the region's construction, labor and building supply markets.

Nationwide, spending on home remodeling is estimated to account for about $180 billion in construction spending every year, or almost 40 percent of every dollar spent on residential construction, according to an April report by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies

Whether there's more or less money, overall, going into Central Oregon remodels than there has been in recent years is hard to pinpoint, but companies that have specialized in remodels for years say they are seeing little drop-off in activity.

Remodeler Stephen Herbert told The Bulletin newspaper in Bend that he sees a strong year in 2008.

A fair amount of his business, he said, is coming from out-of-the-area people who want to convert former vacation homes into their retirement homes.

Some have shopped around for new homes, Herbert said, but most ultimately find that it's less expensive to rearrange bedrooms, kitchens and garages to accommodate full-time living than it is to opt for a whole new home.

Homeowners who want to remodel have generally lived in their homes long enough to build up equity, which means they still have a relatively easy time securing loans, said Gary May, Pacwest Homes director of sales. The price of labor and materials has also plunged since the general housing market cooled down, May added.

Pacwest laid off its in-house tile setters and drywallers at the beginning of the year, reacting, along with most home builders, to the slide in new-home construction, May said.

But it has kept its project managers, finish crews and painters working, and it's hiring subcontractors to fill in the gaps as work comes in.