The slow housing-market is encouraging thousands of home-owners to extend or renovate their properties and stay put rather than selling up and moving on.
We are certainly witnessing this trend in the office. We have just completed 3 new extensions in Lisburn, Glengormley and Ballyclare; we have three projects currently on site and another four due to start in the new year. Budgets range from £25,000 to £175,00.
According to a recent report by Nationwide Building Society, almost a fifth of applications for re-mortgaging this summer were to fund structural work on homes.
Research carried out by the UK’s biggest building society reveals that building extra space can be more cost effective than relocating to a bigger home.
For example, it calculates that trading up from a three-bedroom house to a four-bed costs an extra £40,000 on average, even more if you include the cost of legal and relocation fees.
People underestimate moving costs because they pay them a bit at a time and don’t necessarily add them up
A reasonable estimate of the cost is about 6-7% of the price of the property you’re selling.
That means if you live in a four-bedroom house worth £300,000 and decide to move into the identical four-bedroom house next door, you’ll pay around £20,000 on fees, stamp duty, legal costs (£3,000), arrangement fee with Bank or building society, a survey of the property, removal men, new phone lines and the rest.
So there is £60,000 spent before you think about redecorating, adding a new kitchen or bathroom or re-landscaping.
How much more sensible to hang on to that money and build an extra room in your current property instead – especially if you like where you live.
Adding square footage always adds value. The only question is whether it adds more value than it costs.
Nationwide’s research shows that creating an extra bathroom adds 6% to the value of the average home, while adding a double bedroom pushes up the value by 12%. Building an extension or loft conversation to create a double bedroom and en-suite bathroom adds 23%.
So an extension will not only give you more space, it can also potentially improve the value of your home too.
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