The amount spent on home improvements, each year, by homeowners in their first year of owning property has reached almost £1 billion, according to research from LV=.
According to the research, the most popular activities among home improvers include:
- Painting walls
- Changing flooring
- Renovating bathrooms
- Redesigning kitchens
Of course, the first year of owning your home is probably the most logical time to start making changes and really putting your stamp and personality on the place.
But what about when you have owned the home for a while and it’s time to make some bigger changes?
Is it worth sticking with your current property and paying to make the home fit your needs or is it easier to sell up and move to a new property which will already have the extra features in place.
Let’s weigh up the pros and cons:
The cost of moving:
Moving to a new house doesn’t usually come cheap, and there are a range of additional costs which will bump the price up further. In London, the average price of a home was £484,584 in April 2018. For England as a whole the average house price was £243,639. (Source: Land Registry)
One of the additional costs of moving home is Stamp Duty. While reforms have meant that first-time buyers have been able to benefit from having to pay less Stamp Duty, you will not be so lucky if you are moving into your second home or beyond.
Stamp duty is payable at a rate of:
- 0% on the first £125,000
- 2% of the value which falls between £125,000 to £200,000
- 5% between £250,000 and £925,600
- 10% between £925,000 and £1.5 million
- 12% on any value over £1.5 million
Therefore, for an average home in London, costing £484,584, you could expect to pay Stamp Duty of £14,229.
Time and effort:
Selling your current home to move into one which will meet your needs will eliminate the stresses of either having contractors in the house or attempting to make the changes by yourself. If you, or your partner is a builder, then the DIY approach may be fine. However, if your skills leave something to be desired, you will need to hire professionals, which will take some time.
However, moving to a new house is not always straightforward and you may have to wait for months to find the perfect property and go through the buying process. While it will be less messy and disruptive than making the improvements to your current home, it could take longer overall.
Money:
How buying a new home affects your finances will depend on the value of your current property and how much you will need to spend on a new home with extra features. Of course, if you are looking to add extra rooms to your living space, you are likely to be looking at a more expensive property. However, this can be counteracted, by choosing to move to a less expensive area or cut back in other features.
Choosing to implement new features yourself may be cheaper than buying a new house, especially when you factor in the cost of moving, taking time off work and the fees associated with buying property. However, it is highly recommended that all home improvements are carried out by a trained and experienced professional, as any mistakes may end up causing damage to the property, which could cost you more money in the long run.
Suitability
By making changes to your current home, you can be confident that the finished product will meet the needs of you and your family, perfectly. As you will have been involved in the design and implementation of the improvements, personally, you will; be able to oversee all aspects of it and make any changes necessary to ensure that your home is perfectly finished.
On the other hand, moving into a new home which looks like it will suit your needs could let you down at the last minute. While making improvements will simply enhance the home you have already made memories in, moving home will be a big change for all members of your family and could cause more upset than necessary.
How should you decide?
Ultimately, the decision to stay in your current home and make improvements, or to move to a new property is down to personal preference. You will need to analyse whether moving home is the right thing to do for you, your partner, your children and anyone else who may be affected by it. Similarly, home improvements can be messy, noisy, disruptive and affect family life for the duration. If you have family members with health conditions which may be affected by dust and construction work, then you may need to stay with them elsewhere while the work is taking place, which will negate the efforts made to avoid relocating and spending extra money.
For more information, or to discuss your options, contact us on 0207 808 4120.