Renovation trends in 2010

With the UK’s housing markets
still only showing the slightest evidence of recovery, fragile at best and
considered by many industry specialists to be misleading, it seems pertinent to
look back at one of our favourite national pastimes, renovating our homes.


Before the ensuing financial
meltdown 18 months ago, when money was easy to come by and optimism
characterised popular opinion, 90 percent of London home owners were thinking of
renovating their home in some way. Since then the vast majority of those
aspirations will have been put on hold or scrapped altogether; however for the
first time since 2007 there has been a rise, five percent to be exact, in people planning
to carry out renovation or remodelling work.

The current market conditions
dictate that the get-it-quick investors and small developers who dominated the
renovations markets in 2006-7, can’t get the loans they used to, so the patient
savers and cash rich buyers are best placed to be planning renovations.


There has been a startling jump
in the popularity of ‘wrecks’ purchased for complete renovation. Properties in
the commuter belt, over 100 years old, are proving one of the biggest movers of Q4
2009 and the beginning of 2010. The trend is such that the late 2009 list of
endangered buildings ‘All We Need Is Love’, published by Save Britain’s
Heritage, sold out in weeks; underlining the popularity of renovation over
buying a ready to occupy home.

In London’s most affluent
neighbourhoods like Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham the creation of basement
spaces has jumped in popularity. Whilst not cheap, but nevertheless technically
possible to dig out a massive basement space under your home, there is the
potential to add vast square footage to your property without serious planning
problems.

The other trend set to dominate
the decade’s renovation projects, large and small, is sure to be economically
and environmentally friendly technologies creeping into our homes. Intelligent
and more efficient lighting systems, low flow toilets, new insulation
technologies, and cheaper and more efficient heating systems are all set to
increase.

And for those who haven’t had to
tighten their belts in the past two years, we are still seeing some
extraordinary renovation projects, from gadget garages, sound proofed and bullet
proofed rooms, to extravagant garden designs and even glass lifts for cars.

For further information: Quintessentially Estates www.quintessentiallyestates.com