Property renovations bringing housing prices down rather than up
Five renovations that might bring your house price down instead of up, according to a property finance expert
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Expert warns that not all home improvements add value
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Over-personalisation is one of the biggest risks
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Renovation mistakes could shave THOUSANDS off final sale price
Homeowners can spend tens-of-thousands of pounds on renovating their home, but not always make that back on the sale price.
In some cases, renovations can seriously reduce a property’s appeal and sale price altogether, so it’s important to know, if you’re selling, what renovations are really going to devalue your property.
Jamie Williams, Property Finance Specialist at Pure Property Finance, explains the five renovations that could potentially devalue your property:
1. Converting a bedroom into something too niche
“Spare bedrooms are mainstream, and can be used by anyone. Families looking to expand, those that have friends staying over a lot of couples that benefit from staying in separate bedrooms. However, changing a bedroom into something a bit niche, a home-gym or a walk-in wardrobe, won’t be appealing to everyone.
Losing a bedroom can hugely impact valuation bands, particularly for homes that’re in the family bracket, where an extra bedroom can be worth tens-of-thousands of pounds.”
2. Personalised interiors
“Most people who sell their home try and incorporate neutrals into their home. Murals, statement wallpapers and very specific design choices can limit buyer appeal.
Designs that may be suited to one person’s taste may be completely different to someone else’s, and may require more work from the buyers to redecorate, and therefore they may ask to knock a lot off the asking price.”
3. Bad open plan
“Open-planned living rooms are still a buyer-favourite, but they need to consider flow, storage and natural light for buyers to want to pay more for it.
A lot of buyers still may prefer definition rooms if structural changes feel a bit awkward or don’t look right. It may raise concerns about future costs of building walls and adding in dividers.”
4. Cheap extensions
“Adding space should typically add value, but if it’s done badly, it’ll have the opposite effect.
Low quality finishes, bad insulation and missing building regulations can make buyers slightly nervous, making them want to drop their offer price or not want to put an offer in at all.”
5. Removing KEY features
“There are some things that buyers expect to see in a property. If you remove a bath in a family home, or remove a driveway to make your front garden bigger, for example, this can hurt desirability.
Just because the change makes sense for you doesn’t mean it’ll make sense to everyone else.”
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