Financial impact of home insurance 'needs to be considered'
Posted on July 22nd 2008
People looking to increase the value of their homes through improvements need to target their efforts carefully, it has been claimed.
According to Abbey Mortgages, many home improvements are now unlikely to offer value for money, as upgrade costs are often higher than money recouped from the project after selling up.
New kitchens and extensions are highlighted as examples of improvements which could result in negative net value added, with more superficial work - such as repainting and decorating - recommended as being most financially beneficial.
As a result, Phil Cliff, director of Abbey Mortgages, has urged Britons to undertake home improvements for reasons other than adding value.
"Our research shows that very few home improvements will actually add more value than they cost to implement at the moment, so it's important that people are making these improvements because they want to live in the end result and aren't doing them in order to add value alone," he commented.