Home improvements on the up
March 2016

Homeowners in England and Wales are back on the home improvement trail, according to a new report from Barbour ABI showing a sharp rise in such planning applications last year after previous years of more sluggish growth.

Some 1.9 households per 100 in England and 1.2 in Wales had planning applications in for all kinds of home improvements, representing increases of 17% and 12% on an average of the two previous years.

Top of the regional chart is London with 3.8 homes per 100 putting in applications in 2015 – 16% up from ‘13/’14, as the report explains: “It has huge demand for housing, with a limited stock of new homes, high and fast rising house prices and a large proportion of the richest people in Britain.”

However, within the region, the report also highlights a trend away from Central London towards the outer districts.

Every part of GB showed some increase except Scotland, where applications shrank by 2%.

The report also reflects earlier surveys that reveal the ‘Can’t move – improve’ factor that home improvement applications are more prevalent in areas where new home applications have a higher rejection rate. This may not however indicate a causal link, as the report has one interesting alternative theory: “It could well be that well-to-do people are both more prone to improving their homes and also more averse to new homes being built near them.”

The report ‘Home Improvers of Great Britain’ concluded that the future is looking rosy, with the economy and employment both on the up and inflation remaining low, but it cautions that the EU Referendum is a big unknown and also that repayments to PPI mis-selling victims could be partly behind a surge in ‘big-ticket’ investments.

One interesting little quirk in the stats: the report points out that the graph of home improvements rises and falls in the same pattern as the number of new cars purchased – except around nine months later, giving economists an early indicator for the immediate future.

- http://www.barbour-abi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Home-Improvers-Report-March-2016.pdf