A question I was asked this week on a valuation, and one I have been asked many a time.
Firstly, if the return on your investment is your main concern, not all home improvements are created equal and it will depend on the location of your home and the quality of work.
If you have a four-bedroom home on a road worth £450,000, surrounded by four-bedroom homes and the ceiling price for the road is £500,000, completing a loft conversion purely to sell and or profit, in the short term, may be a poor decision.
Some research suggests the maximum value add-on of 20-25 per cent will likely be achieved only if you create ‘the perfect self-contained sleeping space’ in your attic – that is, a bedroom with an en-suite.
And as just mentioned, this will only work in an area where larger, family homes ‘are scarce’. If you already live somewhere where spacious, multi-bedroom homes are abundant, a loft conversion is unlikely to have the desired effect on your house price.
You must also be aware of the inevitable impact of a conversion on the amount of storage the home will have.
You will have to consider how you incorporate additional storage space into your home to make up for the storage space you are losing.
If you are planning on living in your home for a good while longer, adding a loft conversion may simply not be practical enough for your needs.
Loft conversions are having a renaissance since lockdown, not least because homeowners are increasingly using theirs as home offices. Once something of a niche offering, a home office is now one of the most in-demand property features.
Although converting your loft into a home office won’t fetch you as much added value as an ensuite bedroom – 10 per cent as opposed to 20 – it is also likely to be at the cheaper end of the typical loft conversion cost, so can still be well worth the investment.
Any questions, I am all ears.
Best wishes, Daniel
