Tag Archives: london
Research reveals which home improvements yield best return on investment
The average home improvement in the UK would add a healthy 10% to the value of a home, based on home owner’s estimates, new research shows. This works out at just under £30,000 whilst the average return on investment was estimated to be 80%, based on the total amount spent by home owners, according a new home improvement index from peer to peer lending firm Zopa. The new research, which asks home owners who have recently taken out a home improvement loan across the UK how much value their renovation added to their property, shows that the top improvement is a conservatory costing an average of £5,300 and giving a 108% return on investment. Next is garden improvements costing an average of £4,550 giving an 88% return followed by exterior work costing an average of £6,000 with a return on investment of 75%. An extension is much more costly, averaging £19,750 but only offering a 71% return on investment while a new roof costs £4,150 with just 63% return and a loft costing an average of £24,600 but comes with a return of just 50%. Kitchen and bathrooms are often the rooms home owners want to change the most but they offer the least in terms of returns. A bathroom renovation costing an average of £4,900 is bottom with a return of just 48%, closely followed by a kitchen costing an average of £9,600 with a return of 49%. Some 82% of home owners said that despite improving their homes, they were not planning on selling soon. The firm says this suggests that the current housing market where price growth is slowing could be putting home owners off moving, and instead adapting their current homes to their situations. ‘With the latest housing market reports showing the market to be slowing down, home owners could add significant value by looking at ways to improve their current homes, rather than move,’ said Zopa chief executive officer Giles Andrews. ‘With record low rates on borrowing, home improvements can be a cost effective way to add value to your property for the long term,’ he added. Continue reading
Survey reveals many non-home owners in UK think they will never be able to buy
Almost half of non-home owners aged 25 to 34 in the UK don’t think that they will ever be able to buy a property, new research has found, while one in three have no interest in buying. Just 28% of non-home owners questioned for mortgage and home loans broker Ocean Finance say they would like to be able to buy a property one day, and expect to be able to do so. Conversely, 40% of those questioned say that while they would like to be able to buy a home in the future, they do not expect they will ever be able to do so while 32% claimed they are happy to continue renting and have no interest in buying. These findings may suggest that people’s attitude to owning could be changing, whether through opinion or circumstance. And there are numerous reasons why this may be the case, the firm says. These include rising house prices, especially in London and the South East, which mean that even saving for the deposit for a property seems out of reach for many. For example, a 25% deposit on the average house price is now £68,000, more than double the UK average income. Changes to the mortgage market mean it has become harder to access mortgages, with fewer higher loan to value products available and tighter affordability rules. It also says that real income is being squeezed with prices rising faster than income for the past few years meaning that people have had less money to commit both to saving and to thinking about paying a mortgage. In fact, the survey shows that nearly half, 46%, of non-home owners in the key first time buyer bracket of 25 to 34 years old did not think that they would ever be able to afford to buy a house. Perhaps surprisingly, adults aged under 25 remain quite optimistic about their future prospects with 54% of them both wanting to buy a house in the future and believing that they will be able to do so. For people who haven’t got on the housing ladder by the age of 55 the dream of home ownership has faded. Just 4% of non-home owners aged over 55 still expect to be able to buy. ‘Home ownership is already at a 25 year low and our survey suggests that this figure is likely to continue to fall. While four in 10 people still say they’d like to own a property one day, they already seem resigned to not being able to do so,’ said Ian Williams, spokesman for Ocean. Continue reading
Cumbrian village named best place in UK to live due to affordable homes
St Bees, a coastal village in Cumbria, has been named as the best place for families due to low crime rates, excellent school education and affordable housing. The number of top 20 places in the Midlands and North of England has risen by 15% due to rising house prices in the South at a time of low increases in average salaries, according to the annual family hotspots report from finance firm Family Investment. The annual report, which was first launched in 2012, analyses postcode data across 71 different data sets from education, safety and childcare costs to local amenities, affordable property and green spaces to reveal the top locations for families. Located 50 miles from the Scottish border and with a population of just 1,800, St Bees in Cumbria earns the 2014 top spot. A newcomer to the report, it owes its success to a low crime rate and a lower than average house price of just £139,000. In second place is the market town of Wokingham in Berkshire, 33 miles west of London which was the top location last year but has gone down the rankings due to increasing house prices. An average two bedroom property now costs £254,000. Faringdon in Oxfordshire is third due to its excellent schools. The town, which is located in the Vale of the White Horse, also holds the accolade of being the first Fairtrade Town in the South East of England. ‘The rural village of St Bees is well deserving of its title as the best place in the UK for families. It has a heritage that stretches back over 1,000 years, the schools achieve excellent results and locals tell us that it has a small but very close-knit community making it a great location for families,’ said Steve Ferrari, head of customer insights at Family Investments. ‘Deciding where to live is one of the most important financial and lifestyle choices families will make in their lifetimes. Our report is designed to help people navigate this decision by showing them how areas of England and Wales score on some of the major factors that play a part in everyday family life whether that’s the quality of local schools or the area’s crime rates,’ he added. Four locations within the top 20 are positioned along the M6 corridor between Birmingham and Manchester, making them convenient for commuters to those cities: Sandbach in Cheshire, Hixon in Staffordshire, Holmes Chapel in Cheshire and Cheadle in Staffordshire. No London location makes it into the charts for 2014, largely due to the cost of property in the capital. However, the top three locations in Greater London are Bexley, Banstead and Epsom with no inner London locations made it onto the list. Continue reading
