House Price Crash - Time for a Loft Conversion?
Following the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, many commentators are predicting a crash in house prices here in the UK. To avoid buying at the top of the market, many homeowners are looking to home improvement and investing in a loft conversion or extension rather than moving house.
An extension to an existing property will be the first major expansion for many homeowners, but for those with small gardens or existing extensions, a loft conversion is a preferable option.
If there is a crash in the housing market, investing in your property might be a smart move, especially if you create a place of work in your new living space. By the time prices recover to pre-Covid rates, home working might be the norm and a beautiful home office in the loft could make a big difference to the price of your property.
Will there be a crash in house prices?
It is difficult to say whether there will be a house price crash this year, but looking at how the house prices increased straight after the pandemic coupled with the cost of living soaring, it is very likely this could lead to a price crash and there has never been an economic crash like the one caused by Covid-19, ever.
House prices, like any other kind of price, will always be driven by supply and demand.
The supply of new houses has been stepped up in recent years, in part because house ownership has become a political issue which has seen the government commit to increasing annual production of new housing.
Demand is trickier to nail down because there are so many things which affect it, such as:
- Consumer confidence
- Lender confidence
- Government incentives
The previous economic crash (2008/09) was in part caused by the housing market, particularly uncontrolled speculation therein; this crash is different because much of the economy in the UK stopped for two months, as many people were forced to stay in their homes.
This has had several knock-on effects which have yet to be fully realised in the wider economy:
- Many people working from home may never return to working full time in an office
- Lots of people used the time to make big changes in their lives
- Many who lost jobs found new ones which didn't exist before the pandemic
- Consumers collectively saved millions of pounds by not being able to go outside
All of these things could lead to both increases and decreases in property prices, depending on location.
Companies who spend a lot on office space in city centres might decide that they only need to rent half as much office space if more people work from home more of the time. A drastic reduction in the demand for office space could have a knock-on effect for property prices in areas which people would traditionally commute from.
More home-working could lead to a reduction in the demand for houses closer to city centres or their transport connections, which could see increasing demand in suburbs.
Working From Home
Working from home has been a huge driver of change during Covid-19 and this has been underlined in record sales of office equipment and furniture for home use.
There is anecdotal evidence that people spending so much time at home, working or otherwise has driven major changes in their lives, such as:
- Realising they don't like their house and moving
- Understanding they don't like their partner and separating
- Deciding they never want to go back to commuting again
Setting up a good home office is vital for anyone working full-time from home - we have designed and built many home offices in Sheffield - so we know how important they are to people and what a difference they can make to productivity and happiness.
If you are considering a loft conversion, please get in touch and see what we can do for you.
If you would like a rough idea on the cost of having a loft conversion please click on the link below:
