When it comes to selling your home, you need to make the most of every single part, to ensure that you get the very best price; and that includes the garden – both front and back.
With house sales starting to stagnate in recent months, it makes sense to ensure you are doing all you can to get your home looking good.
Creating a usable outdoor space by adding a patio is a fantastic start, and has been shown to improve house prices – but how much is it worth, and will the costs outweigh the benefits? It’s time to find out…
House Prices: Up And Down Like A Yo-Yo!
A study carried out by Nationwide Building Society in November 2017 has indicated that house price growth has been lower than expected during the month. In fact, house prices grew by just 2.5%, which is down from 4.3% at the start of the year.
Average house prices had also fallen from £211,000 to £209,000 in just one month. Experts believe the issue is down to difficulties in getting mortgages, and low wage growth making ithard for people to consider moving.
While this is only an indication for the month this article was written, it is a common picture across the last few years. House prices rise and then level off, and riding that wave is a difficult thing to do – especially if you need to sell your home regardless of the price fluctuations.
Even if you are not selling – knowing that you are improving the value of your home is a good thing – it can allow you to remortgage your property, or simply to feel good about your property investment in general.
So it is no wonder that it is hard to get the price you want for your property when it comes time to sell.Improving your home so that it is more appealing is a great first step towards getting that elusive asking price.
It seems that outdoor space is high on the list of what buyers want, and making the most of what you have could make all the difference.
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Will Outdoor Improvements Add Value?
A study carried out by Sellhousefast.uk discovered that homeowners who improve their garden could reap rewards when it comes to selling.
In a list of ten improvements that can be made to outside space, installing a decent quality patio came in second to top (behind a garden shed), with 76% of respondents saying that it is a feature they look out for. Overall,a nice garden could add as much as 20% to the value of the homeaccording to the study.
This view is backed up by the National Association of Estate Agents, who point out that people like to imagine themselves relaxing in a garden during the Summer, and see it as an extra room to enjoy.
They believe that adding a great patio can add as much as £10,000 to the price of the average home, compared to a loft extension that might add £25,000 but would cost a similar amount to build. This makes a patio a great, all round investment, in terms of the rate of return.
A further report from the US based National Association of Realtors found that a patio is one of the top ten features that home-buyers want, and that they would pay a premium for a good one.
Their study found that a patio could recoup around 85% of the cost of installation, compared to a new bathroom which recovered just 78%. They also state thata unique or attractive patiowill make more money for the homeowner-especially if they are low maintenance.
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Why Add A Patio?
So why do homeowners want a lovely patio, and what are they willing to pay for it? We are more likely to live an indoor/outdoor lifestyle these days, especially when the outdoor space flows effortlessly from the indoor space.
Sliding doors, bi-fold doors and patio doorsall allow us to create an area that is an extension of the inside. Even in the Winter months we can enjoy the patio area, with chimneys and patio heaters offering a way to stay cosy, while enjoying the outdoor space.
The patio has also become a space to entertain in, with BBQs and alfresco eating proving particularly popular among property owners.
The relaxation of the planning permissions rules that allows small conservatories to be built without needing to apply, has resulted in a boom in outdoor living.
Many homes now boast a conservatoryand the addition of a patio simply adds to the feeling of being a part of the garden. It also acts as a stepping stone from one environment to another.
Your patio can be used during wet weather, without bringing mud through into the home – especially if you have an awning or other coverage.
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How Much Will A Patio Cost?
The one factor that those questioned in the studies above agreed on was that the patio needed to be of a decent quality. Long gone are the days of crazy paving or wobbly decking. People want something that will last and look great, or the house value may actually fall, rather than improve.
Resin bound permeable pavingis a great way to achieve this. Resin surfacing offers a hard wearing surface, that looks great, and performs effectively in all types of weather. Essentially, it provides a coloured gravel that is glued to the existing ground with a polymer and epoxy resin.
It is easy to keep clean, resistant to UV light, and can be laid in a range of colours and patterns. It is possible, therefore, to create something that is both attractive to potential buyers, and will result in an improvement on the value of your home.
It is estimated that a resin bound patio or driveway will cost between £50 and £70 per square metre, however, this does depend on many things including the type of aggregate, the size of that aggregate, and the layout and access to the patio area.
But this does seem to indicate that a patio could be laid for just a few hundred pounds.
If we assume that you will make up to 20% on the value of your home back from making improvements to your entire garden, it is easy to see how this can be an excellent investment.
If your home is worth £200,000 and you spend a total of £4,000 on the garden (including your new patio) you could make as much as £40,000 back on the value of your home with a profit of £36,000. This may be the top end, but even if the return was 10% it is still a great option.
So, if you are thinking of ways to improve the value of your home, and hope to do so at a relatively low cost, a resin bound patio is a great start.
The evidence is clear that you can add as much as 20% to the value of your home, get more people in for viewings and hopefully, get more offers that are closer to the price you want. If all else fails, at least you have a patio that will stand the test of time, and one you can enjoy while you wait.
