Tuesday 10th June 2008
As the housing market in the UK continues to slow, homeowners are planning on making significant structural changes to their properties instead, a new report has suggested.
Research from Sainsbury's Home Insurance found that the slower housing market meant that 21 per cent of property owners were planning to carry out structural work in the coming year.
Typically, consumers plan to spend £17,361 on home improvements. However, 19 per cent said they would fork out more than £20,000 and one per cent expected the construction to cost between £100,000 and £200,000.
The most popular improvements included loft conversions (37 per cent), new conservatories (23 per cent) and garage conversions (15 per cent).
Neil Laird, the home insurance manager at Sainsbury's Finance, commented: "In the current housing climate, creating extra space in your home is another option for those who have maybe decided to put their plans to move on hold.
"We want to make sure that homeowners are aware that they could be left underinsured or even invalidate their insurance entirely in the event of an incident during or after the works if they have not informed their insurer first."
Recently, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that the average cost of home improvements had increased significantly in the last year.
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