Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Category:
Secured Loans
Sainsbury’s Home Insurance recently reported that the number of homeowners who are planning to invest in structural improvements in the next 12 months has fallen by almost 40%.
When undertaking work, 29% of homeowners were unaware that they would need to let their buildings insurer know before undertaking the work.
When researching, Sainsbury’s Home Insurance found that up to 3.27 million (13%) of British homeowners had the intention of doing major structural work on their homes in the next year. This is 30% lower than in 2008 when a fifth of homeowners said that they intended to make structural changes.
When the 13% of homeowners who said that they intended to make home improvements were asked what changes they planned to make, 873,000 said that they intended to carry out a loft conversion, 653,000 wanted to extend to the side of their property and 632,000 wanted to do a garage conversion.
In the previous year, loft conversions were also the most planned structural change. In second place were conservatories and in third place, rear extensions. In terms of costs, the average intended spend on structural improvements in the next year is set to be £22,730. 34% of those surveyed intend to spend more than £20,000, 5% will spend over £50,000 and 3% anticipate that their home improvements will cost in excess of £100,000.
Joanne Mallon, Sainsbury's Home Insurance Manager, said: "In the current housing climate, creating extra space in your home is another option for those who have maybe decided to put their plans to move on hold. Buildings insurance premiums are calculated based on a number of factors, such as the type of house or the number of bedrooms it has, so creating extra rooms can have an impact on your premium even if you have unlimited cover.
"Homeowners should know that in the event of an incident happening during or after the works are completed they could be left underinsured or even invalidate their insurance entirely if they have not informed their insurer first."
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Homeowners who have decided to carry out major home improvements and who are considering their finance options, could opt for a secured loan. A
secured loan is one of many options to fund home improvements and could be used to cover the cost of major improvements such as loft conversions, side extensions and garage conversions. Secured loans can also be used to fund conservatories and smaller scale internal home improvements such as refitting kitchens and bathrooms, as well as redecorating throughout.
