Throwing my Quicken data into the the fray...
Our house was built in 77 or 78. We have lived in it since 1990. From 1/1/2001 through 12/31/2020, we spent about $115,000 on house repairs/maintenance/improvements/appliances. $5,750 on average per year. That is about 1.5% of the market value of our home in 2001, so it is a lesser percentage of the current value.
- Repairs (something broke, we need to fix it now) - 18%
- Maintenance (preventative/regular planned maintenance) - 19%
- Home improvement (includes stuff that could have been patched and repaired, but chose to replace/renovate to lessen that burden) - 57%
- Appliances (usually replaced when broken) - 6%
The big ticket items:
- Finishing about 700 sq foot of basement (improvement)
- New roof (improvement repair)
- New driveway improvement repair)
- Renovating 2 bathrooms (improvement repair)
- Tree service (storm debris and dying trees)
- 2 well pumps
- Heat pump
- Appliances (Oven/Range (twice), fridge, dishwasher)
- Riding mower (twice)
For retirement planning I started with an estimate of $5K/year. So far we have under spent that in 2.5 years. That does not include some additional non-necessary-but-desired improvements.