Which Improvements Provide Most Value to Your House?

May 19, 2010 Real Estate Information Real Estate Investing, 1

Think you might be selling your home in five years’ time? If the slowdown in the housings market continues , this may become harder to do. So, you will find below a quick guide to which improvements should add the most value to your home .

1. Loft conversion + 21%
According to a study by Nationwide bank , a loft conversion is easily the single most valuable alteration you can make to your home .
By adding 300 square feet of floor space – and then incorporating an extra bedroom and bathroom – you could add over 20% to the value of your property. Starting with a house worth £200,000, this is a potential price increase of £42,000.
The estimated cost of this sort of conversion is just over £17,000 – a tidy sum, but very often a good-value investment.

2. Another bed room + 12%
Just adding an extra bedroom can make your house price rise substantially . Turn a two-bedroom house into a three bedder by adding a good sized bedroom, and you will typically increase the selling price by 12%.
However, it’s worth bearing in mind that this figure is based on increasing the amount of general floor space usable (by, for example, extending over the garage).
Fiddling about with existent floor space to produce the extra room generally adds less value – around 6% for the same type of property .

3. Central heating + 6.8%
A big majority of UK properties now have central heating – and if yours does not have a heating system , then you’re losing out on a big chunk (just under 7%) of added value. That makes a £200,000 home worth in the region of £214,000.
The installation of a complete gas heating system currently costs about £5,000 – so it definitely seems a cost-efficient investment to make. And of course, a newer, energy-efficient system can also save money on utility bills.

4. Parking + 6.5%
Simple but very effective . Squeezing a parking space onto your property can add well over 6% to its value. Build a double garage and the value rockets by some 14.5%.

5. An extra bathroom + 5.2%
And finally, an extra bathroom can make a huge difference. though houses with two or more bathrooms have become more common in recent years, adding an extra one can still boost the price of a one bathroom property by over 5%.

Just make sure you plan carefully when you tackle all these home improvements.

According to a recent Halifax report , one in four major home improvement schemes overshoot their budget each year.
Apparently , getting carried away with fixtures and fittings is the major source of increased costs, with kitchen makeovers the most likely to spiral out of financial control. So make sure you draw up a budget, then stick to it!

For more information on home improvements or to find reliable tradesmen to carry out your home improvements contact SafeTrade.

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