Loft conversions increase value of property |
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Mon, 29 May 2006 10:15
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LONDON - New research released today by the Nationwide building society shows that the best way to add to the value of a house is to go in for a loft conversion. Making this small adjustment increases the value of a home by 10.9 percent as opposed to adding a new bedroom, which boosts the price by just 6 percent.
Adding a garage increased the value of a home by 8 percent. But apart from all these home improvement steps, Nationwide said that location remained the key. "A house in the best neighborhood can command a price more than a third higher than a similar house in an average area," said Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide group economist. A loft conversion can set you back by about £15,000 to £70,000. However the absence of central heating could take down the value of a house by 7 percent, Nationwide said.
"Rather than just waiting for the general rise in prices, there are a number of ways to add value to property. Nationwide research shows that an extra bedroom can add 6% to the price of a property and an extra bathroom more than 5%," Ms Earley said. "Building a loft extension to combine the two rather than moving, could make a family £24,000 better off after taking moving costs into account."
Steve Vaughan, of UK Loft Conversion agreed with the views expressed by the research, "When you move house, you have to pay for solicitors, stamp duty, estate agents - there's a lot of dead money, and people are thinking they can put that into a loft conversion instead. It represents better value for money than an extension," he said. "They are very attractive, and because they are at the tops of the house, they often have very good views over the surrounding houses."
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Mortgage lenders' body say house prices will fall 