73% of people in the UK are planning on renovating their homes in some way this year, and when you look at the figures, it’s a decision that makes a lot of financial sense.
House prices rose sharply in 2014, going up by an average of 7.2% (Nationwide) or 8.5% (Halifax) according to lenders. In some areas of London prices grew by as much as 20%.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average price of a house in the UK peaked at £274,000 in August last year. And that figure is set to grow steadily, as demand for new homes continues to outstrip supply.
Bathrooms are traditionally the smallest rooms in the home, being an average of just 4.4 square metres in size (making up just 5% of the space within an average house), but because of the importance of a bathroom, a newly refurbished one can add a huge amount to the value of your home.
In a survey of 2,000 people that we conducted, 87% said that a nice bathroom was key to them deciding to buy/rent a property.
So what is your return on investment when updating your bathroom?
A new bathroom can cost anything from a few hundred pounds (for a new suite to install) all the way up to a maximum of about £8,000 for a full remodel (including moving utilities around to make the most of the available space, re-levelling the floors and ceilings, new pipework, fully tiled walls and floors, new lighting, underfloor heating, heated towel rails, a luxury suite, installation of a new ventilation system etc.), but you won’t need to spend anywhere near this much to get the benefit of increasing the value of your house.
Add as much as 5% to the value of your home
Estate agents and property valuation experts we’ve spoken with have said that a brand new bathroom can add as much as 5% to the price of a house (depending on a variety of factors including location and stamp duty brackets).
Assuming that you own a house priced at the UK average, this means that installing a new bathroom could increase the value of your home by as much as £13,000.
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