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Thousands join trend to extend in bid to beat property slump
Sri Carmichael27.03.09
TENS of thousands of London families are choosing extensions instead of moving house to protect themselves from the property slump, figures showed today.
Planning applications have soared by 10 per cent in a year compared with a drop of one per cent in the rest of Britain.
Families living in Richmond, Hammersmith and Fulham and Wandsworth, are among the most likely to spend up to £45,000 on an extra bedroom rather than sell at the bottom of the market.
Nearly 40,000 planning applications for loft, ground and basement extensions are now put in by Londoners every year.
Specialist builders report soaring customer interest in improving their existing home in the face of a depressed property market. Some have long and growing waiting lists for construction work.
Peter Rollings, managing director of estate agent Marsh & Parsons, said that two years ago at the height of the property boom three quarters of those moving house were families. But he added that the "mortgage drought" has now shrunk that figure to only 25 per cent.
Giles Ferin, a senior property lawyer at London firm EMW Picton Howell, said: "We're seeing more people decide to upgrade their homes and add space so they can cope until they can move. They also realise extensions help maintain the value of their home while prices are falling and make it more attractive to buyers when the market picks up."
Adrian Newman, of Ealing-based extension specialists MoreSpace, said: "We're having the busiest month we've had in the 43 years we've been established. We're now taking 35 to 40 orders a month, compared with 20 a month last summer."
Last year there were 2,453 applications made in Wandsworth, 1,586 in Hammersmith and Fulham and 2002 in Richmond.
Mr Ferin said: "Home extensions have played an important part in improving the quality and type of housing stock available across the UK and London in particular. Any move by the Chancellor to reduce VAT on home extensions at the Budget could also have a positive impact on the local economy."
Data from the Halifax show that London prices have fallen by 16 per cent in a year.
'£45,000 for a loft conversion seems a better investment'
Claire Kurosawa, 39, and husband Kazufumi have just finished having a large loft extension built in their home in Acton to create bedrooms for their children Lilly and Christopher and an extra bathroom.
Mrs Kurosawa said: "We only had two bedrooms and a study and one bathroom before so it felt really cramped with kids. Borrowing the £150,000 or so we'd need to move to a four or five bedroom house around here is out of the question.
"Instead we paid £45,000 for the loft conversion. It seems a much better investment."
Estate agents believe the extension has added about £100,000 to the value of the house.
Reader views (3)
We're facing a double whammy here: Stamp Duty is a huge tax on moving house, and the gov't is about to relax planning restrictions so that even greater monstrosities than these (how do you fix a leak in the side walls, for Heaven's sake?) don't even need permission.This is supposed to cut 'red tape', but rewards councils who have kept their planning control departments understaffed. Stand by for some very ugly neighbour disputes, and the disappearance of your area's back gardens: people are now building blockhouses at the back of their gardens facing inwards, so that their teenagers' amplifier is out of the house , but blasts the neighbours.
- Mdj E10, london uk
Jack Spratt, how some loft conversions get consent still baffles me and I've been at this business for over 20 years now.
Most applications I've dealt with require no point to be within 50cm of the boundary, eaves and ridge, though sometimes that one gets waived where headroom will be restricted otherwise.
There is no way that loft conversion added £100,000 to the, perceived, value of that property. They'd get back the costs, maybe a bit more...it's still a terraced house in the same street as all the others. It's added 25 square metres, at best, and there is no way a loft conversion in Acton commands £4000 per square metre.
- Escobar A-Lop-Lop, Camden County
How on earth did this montrosity get planning permission. If this house has gone up in value it has certainly caused reductions in other properties. I would not wish to live in or near this type of thing which is best built adjacent to a railway track so at least opposing neighbours can't see it.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, England
