News... The trends of 2007 revealed
2007 was a year of dramatic highs and lows for home owners – from the ever increasing appeal of the buy-to-let property market, to the added cost of HIPS on three-plus bedroom houses. Even though the rise in house prices has stalled at the end of the year it is still the case that since 1997 the average house price has gone up by around 156 per cent! As a result many home owners have opted for extensions or added new conservatories to their existing property – increasing the value of their home by more than the cost of the build.
Here, we look back over 2007 and take a look at some of the most important DIY and housing events of the year.
Trend One – The Housing Market
There was no way of getting away from the mass of news stories and special reports last year, which focussed on the country’s housing market. Earlier on in 2007, The National Housing Federation predicted that house prices were set to continue rising and the average cost of a house would reach £300,000 by 2012. On the contrary however, December saw the third month of house price falls – signalling that the end of the property boom could be in sight. Similarly, interest rates increased rapidly in a short amount of time and are now slowly coming down again – the market just won’t stay still! As a result, more home owners have taken on extensions, conversions and additions to their existing properties. Loft conversions can add up to 15 per cent onto the value of your home and basement conversions are now also becoming increasingly popular.
For many, HIPs (Home Information Packs) were one of the lows of the 2007 housing market, adding around £300 to the cost of selling home and still some home buyers had to have second surveys done for their mortgage providers. Since September, HIPs have affected even more people, as they became a requirement in homes with just three bedrooms. It’s no wonder so many people are choosing to improve their existing homes or stick to rental properties.
Trend Two – Buy-to-Let Market
Britain’s buy-to-let sector of the housing industry became one of its best assets last year. Rented homes were in great demand throughout 2007 as families and first time buyers struggled to get onto the property ladder. According to The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the Buy-to-Let market grew by ten per cent last year, however even the experts are unsure of what is to come in 2008 but there are likely to be good bargains as a number of over-extended developers are forced to sell.
Trend Three – DIY (Do It Yourself) or GSI (Get Someone In)?
According to Halifax, Britain’s love for everything ‘DIY’ has continued to remain strong as mortgage holders endeavour to increase the value of their homes – around a quarter of DIYers do it purely for this reason. The last five years alone has seen a considerable increase in ‘handywomen’ taking part in home improvements and Tesco sold 21,000 pink toolkits kits last Christmas!
However, at the same time, the number of home owners giving up DIY in favour of GSI – Getting Someone In – is on the increase. Many of today’s young professionals wouldn’t know a spanner from a wrench, so instead of getting out our tool boxes, many of us are getting out the Yellow Pages, which has had a positive impact on the country’s tradesmen. Contemporary kitchens and luxury bathroom suites not only boost the value of a house but provide up-to-the-minute features that almost every home owner wants – so while home improvement is as strong as ever, the ways in which we are choosing to do it are changing. However, DIY – or GSI – home improvements don’t just improve the aesthetics of a property.
Trend Four – It’s what’s inside that counts
‘Eco-friendly homes’ have possibly been one of the hottest topics of the home improvement year as the Government steps up its attempts to reduce our carbon footprint – and the biggest carbon-offender of all is what goes on inside your home, especially as 60 per cent of the rubbish you throw away can be recycled!
An award winning five-bedroom eco-home on a brownfield site in Lewes, East Sussex – which included underfloor heating and lamb’s wool insulation – cost just £340,000 to build but was sold in 2007 for £865,000 proving that green homes are worth that extra effort! So while some home owners chose to go to great lengths to make their houses eco-friendly, the majority of us are simply encouraged to switch our lights off when we leave a room or add a simple controller to our central heating system, so that it only heats the rooms we are using.
Another big focus of the year, with a much less environmentally conscious theme, was interior decoration. According to Designtalk, pink, green and brown were the trendy colours of 2007 and black and white Japanese themed rooms have also become a big hit.
Trend Five – The Great Outdoors
Garden improvements are now the nation’s second favourite property improvement, according to Halifax, just behind redecorating and an increasing number of 18-24 year olds are getting green-fingers. Decking areas have become especially popular with younger home owners and Britons spend on average £180 each year sprucing up their gardens – however those who like to keep up with the Jones’ ended up spending ten times as much last year on such luxuries as landscaped gardens and driveway turntables.
2007 saw the peak of housing prices as well as the beginning of what is predicted to be the end of the property boom – which pushed so many young buyers and families off the property ladder. Hopefully 2008 will be a much more settled year for existing home owners and eager first-time buyers.
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