Research by Sainsbury's Bank has shown that homeowners are planning to spend around £57 billion on home improvements in the first six months of the year. Women are set to spend around £29 billion, while men are planning to spend £27 billion.
Personal loans are due to finance over £4 billion of the expenditure. Borrowed money makes up almost £14 billion of the proposed home improvements over the next six months, including re-mortgaging, credit cards and borrowing from family and friends. Fifty four per cent of the people surveyed said that they were making improvements to make their home more comfortable, 24% because of necessary repairs, and 10% to make more space. Only 3% of homeowners want to increase the value of their property, compared to over 11% this time last year.
Our view
It is understandable that people are looking at staying and not moving and looking at improving their homes ready for the next boom/bust cycle.