How To Add Value to Your Home in London

London is infamous for its high cost of living, but if you already own a home there you are in luck! It will likely be worth it for you to invest in home improvements, not only will these benefit you but they will also increase your home value.

Here is the best part, with these home improvements, your home value will likely increase substantially more than the cost of the home improvements themselves. Leaving you at a net positive and who doesn’t love free money?

Kitchen Improvements - Spend £4000, Add Up to £17,000 In Value

Kitchens are often described as the heart of the home, show your kitchen some love with a refurbishment. Firstly you should consider whether your existing kitchen design is dated, look at the kitchen surface, kitchen cupboard doors and the kitchen floor. Do you think they would be appealing to the modern buyer? If not these are great starting points that are often the first things people notice when stepping into a kitchen.

According to the Home Owners Alliance, you can make improvements to your home on a budget with the average kitchen improvement costing £4000, but this could add up to £17,000 to a property in London. These are enticing figures, so what are you waiting for?   

Decorate Your House

Imagine this, you are a prospective buyer and you are walking into a property with chipped walls, clutter and dirty windows. You are likely not going to think too highly about the property, which means it does not stand out to buyers. Causing your letting agent to consult with the seller to reduce the selling price of your property.

However, even by spending less than £1000 decorating your house, you can add up to 5-10% to your property price. This can represent a significant investment for properties in London. Good examples of decoration improvements you can make to your property include:

• Adding New Blinds Or Curtains: Curtains and blinds help give a room character, depending on their colour they can affect the hue of the room during the day. Investing in new curtains or blinds doesn’t have to be expensive, you can even get them second-hand at charity shops or online. If you are looking for blinds Oxford blue can be a good colour to use, as blue pairs well with most other colours that you may have already in the room.
• Creating Storage: Good storage options can be attractive to potential buyers, providing them with means to make their houses look less cluttered to visitors. Storage options can also help you when it comes to getting your house valued, as you will be able to put any clutter in your house in one of your storage spaces within your house making your house appear more attractive, therefore potentially increasing the value of your house.
• Fresh Lick Of Paint: Giving the rooms within your house a fresh coating of paint can make your house appear more attractive to potential buyers, meaning you will be able to sell your house easier leading to you being able to charge a higher selling price.

Create A Downstairs Toilet

Adding an extra toilet to your house can be convenient and can increase your home value. Converting a downstairs cloakroom into a toilet can cost around £1600 according to Checkatrade, but can actually increase the property value by up to 5%. Within London retail prices are so high, this could represent a lucrative investment for you to increase the value of your house for a price that won’t break the bank.

Create An Adjoining Ensuite For Your Master Bedroom

Adding an ensuite to your master bedroom within your property can be very convenient for you but also can be a lucrative investment, particularly if you live in London where the average addition of a master bedroom ensuite adds an average additional £26,000 gain. This is appealing considering that the average renovation costs are around £6000, according to Showers To You.

Create A Parking Space

Parking spaces can be difficult to find in certain areas, but did you know that adding a parking space can add as much as 13% to your home value, adding a parking space can cost £2000. One thing you must consider with this option is that you must get planning permission from your local council before you start changing the landscape around your property to accommodate a parking space.

Improve Your Back Garden

When potential buyers are viewing your property one of the things that often catches their eye is the back garden. Back gardens allow the homeowner to partake in recreational outdoor activities within the safety of their own property. Homebuyers who are parents of smaller children will be drawn to a property with a good-sized, well-maintained back garden. Other groups of people who would be drawn to having a back garden include people who enjoy gardening and those who like a BBQ in the summer.

According to Sold “An attractively landscaped garden by itself can potentially increase your home's worth by as much as 20%”. Depending on the size and existing state of your back garden it could cost up to £30,000 to renovate your back garden, but on average it costs between £5000-10,000.

Making carefully considered improvements to your property can present significant investment opportunities, particularly for those with properties in London. In many cases, the cost to improve your property is overshadowed by a generous margin by the additional value you will be adding towards your property. Additionally, financial rewards will be compounded over time as your property increases in price over time with the rest of the property market.