People Choosing To Extend Their Home Rather Than Move: Why?

In the United Kingdom there is an increase in the amount of people choosing to develop their home as opposed to simply moving to a larger property.

Here we explain some of the reasons for this along with steps people can take to ensure they choose the right home improvement (or extension as the case may be).

Why are people choosing to extend their existing home instead of moving to a larger house?

1)      Buying a new home can be an expensive exercise and is not for the faint-hearted, properties are not cheap right now.

2)      The upheaval of purchasing a new home, moving all of the furniture and handling all of the processes involved in selling a property and purchasing a new property for some people can be off-putting, and hence they are choosing to improve the property they are in currently as opposed to selling up and buying new.

3)      Developing the existing property can be much more cost efficient in terms of improving your current living space.

4)      Increase to the value of a property, this is a major advantage of investing in the development of your existing home, home extensions of various forms can increase the value of a house by anything from 5%-35%.

Overall it can be advantageous to focus on the development of an existing property financially, in terms of upheaval and effort, and also in terms of when it comes to sell the current property you are inhabiting. 

Choosing The Right House Extension?

This is critically important because you want to avoid taking on a project that you may not have the budget for.

Firstly the individual looking to improve their home needs to consider their priorities, is the priority cost efficiency? Is the priority getting the most possible extra space from the home? Or is the priority aesthetic?

For people who's priority is cost-efficiency – A conservatory or a single storey extension may be a good choice for you, conservatories increase the value of a home by around 6%-8% which is significant when you consider the price of homes is escalating into the £400k +  mark in many areas throughout Britain and in London it's already gone way beyond in most of the areas.

For People Who's Priority is getting the most out of the extra space – A two storey extension would be a good idea in this scenario, as they not only maximize the amount of usable space but they also add the maximum amount of value to a property.

For people with a priority that is aesthetic – these people can choose basically any extension type they think is the most visually appealing – some people prefer homes that have a conservatory due to their beauty and versatility, also loft conversions can enhance the appearance of a property, but two storey extensions can also make a property larger and structurally appealing, so the answer to this one is subjective and a matter of personal perspective.

For more information on all kinds of house extensions you can visit http://your-home-extensions.co.uk for further guidance, they also have a team of professionals that can handle home improvements of all types.