Has a lot changed since 2007? We took a quick peek back at the home improvement trends of 2007, which included the housing market, buy-to-let, DIY and eco-friendly homes.
2007 saw more people than even get bitten by the by-to-let property bug, whilst other homeowners thinking of selling their properties were confronted with the HIPS pack for 3 bedroom houses. Average house prices had risen 156% in the last ten years and homeowners were adding extensions and conservatories to increase their homes value even more.
One report predicted the average house would cost £300,000 by 2012, despite December seeing a third consecutive fall in house prices, signalling, some said, an end to the property boom.
Rented homes were already in great demand as the cost of buying a first home or a larger family proved too much for the British public. This fuelled the by-to-let market as properties were snapped up and consequently let by a growing army of private property investors.
DIY was as popular an obsession with the public as it had ever been. The previous 5 years had seen a steady increase in 'handy women' with Tesco reporting it had sold 21,000 pink tool kits last Christmas.
The flip-side of the coin was increasing numbers of young professionals without any DIY skills, and a culture of 'call in an expert' for even simple tasks was evolving.
Eco-friendly interiors was surely one of the hottest topics of home improvement as house builders started incorporating natural materials like lambs wool insulation. The revolution was truly underway as energy saving lightbulbs were snapped up, although much more was achieved by simply turning the heating down a agree or two and switching off lights when not in a room.
Finally, the 18-24 age group surprised us by getting increasingly green-fingered as Britons spent an average of £180 each on sprucing up their gardens. However, those obsessed with 'keeping up with the Jones' ended up spending ten times as much as last year on landscaped gardens and even driveway turntables.
2007 also saw us launch Loft Quoter - an instant online loft conversion quoting website, joined our growing family of 'Quoter websites. It's regularly updated with the industries latest prices and can still offer free online quotes, whether your attic is traditional trusses or the more modern W shaped trusses in construction.
This story first appeared in our weekly homeowner newsletter dated 6th February 2012. Click here to read the full newsletter, which also included a round up of the weeks top home improvement offers.
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